From the Ashes
by memories of pain
Summary: Harry and Ginny story. After part four. Harry dies in order to save Cedric. But when the whole wizarding world suffers from the fight against Voldemort, school goes on. And who will turn up?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

A sleeping Ginny Weasley lay with her head resting on her desk. Her cheeks were still red, from all the crying she had done the last couple of days. It was the summer between her third and forth year. A terrible year, which had ended in an unexpected death. The Daily Prophet was filled with it.

The whole week with frond pages as: _"Death of Harry Potter"_ and _"You-know-who finally killed his worst enemy"_, but also _"Many tears over Harry Potters dead 'body'"_ and _"What will the Wizarding World do now?"_.

Now, an empty grave was placed next to the rest of the Potters, for no body was found. Cedric Diggory had seen Harry being burned by Lord Voldemort after his resurrection. Cedric had told his story to the world. That was what the first article, in the Daily Prophet, was about. How Cedric had seen the resurrection of Lord Voldemort. How Harry Potter had duelled with him and how Harry had thrown the Portkey to Cedric to let him escape.

Many had asked why he had not brought Harry back with him. He then hung his head and answered; _"He threw it to me through the flames. I can still hear his cries in my head, screaming in pain and fear as the flames close in on him. I could do nothing, as both wands were broken."_ All interviews were cut down from there and Cedric Diggory was taken to St. Mongo's for examination.

The world turned into chaos. Everywhere people were fighting against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. More deaths filled the news papers. But still there were some good things happening in the world.

Sirius Black was finally a free man. By order of Albus Dumbledore, the trial of Sirius Black was re-held. Under Varitaserum he spoke the truth of what had happened that faithful night. The Weasleys and the Grangers had been there when he was cleared of all charges. Remus Lupin was overjoyed when he heard that his friend was finally free and both cried, screamed and drunk to a happy ending for two days till they finally cried over Harry's death.

Now they laughed with tears as they brought every memory back. They both found jobs at Hogwarts and both lived at Grimmauld Place 12. They would work together for the Order and make sure the house was liveable. The Weasley children, minus Bill, Charlie and Percy, where helping to. Hermione was coming soon, for her parents were leaving for they're anniversary.

A soft knock was heard on the door and Ginny shifted in her sleep. Mrs. Weasley entered the room and smiled sadly as she saw that her daughter lay once again on her desk. She grabbed the newspapers from the bed and laid them on her nightstand.

Then she woke her daughter lightly. "Let's put you in bed," she said softly and she guided Ginny to her bed, tucked her in and placed a small kiss on her forehead. "Sleep well, sweet heart."

A/N: I was reading everyones stories and I started feeling guilty. I've written nothing for so long and am still perfecting my first story. I have more stories that I wish to share, but it seemed I was to scared to post them. I'm afraid to let you all down again. But then I thought: I can't hide forever. So here's a new story for you to read. No Beta has read this as all the others, so I'm very sorry for all the errors. Hope you'll love it. R&R!


	2. To be Brave

_**Chapter 1**_

_**To be brave**_

Both Hermione and Ginny cried once again over they're dead friend. This would be the last day that they would cry over the memory of there beloved friend. After this day, they would be strong and think only good of Harry Potter.

They laughed at this, because there were only good things about Harry Potter. How he had laughed with them. How he had sacrificed himself for the good of mankind. Like he had done since he first came to this world.

They remembered the time that he had run of to protect the Philosophers Stone from Voldemort in his first year. How he had saved Ginny and the whole of Hogwarts from Voldemort and the Basilisk in his second year. How he had finally found Sirius and fought of a bunch of Dementors in his third year. And how he had finally passed all three tasks in his last year at Hogwarts. He had battled a dragon, freed Ron and Gabriella and finally made it through the maze, only to end there and to never return.

"You know we still have to talk to Cedric tomorrow," Hermione said through her tears.

Ginny took a deep sigh to control herself. "Poor Cedric," she said and nodded. "He must have it so hard, witnessing it all. But at least he has Cho and his parents to comfort him."

Hermione nodded. "True," she said. "All we have are drunken fools," she yelled down the stairs and Ginny and herself laughed sadly through they're tears.

"Hey," came a smoldered cry up the stairs. "I resent that!"

Ginny smiled. "Oh, really? Then how come I can smell the mulled wine from the kitchen every night."

Someone was laughing in another room. "Yes and I can smell the whiskey coming from your breath every evening," Hermione yelled too. Now it seemed the whole hall was laughing.

They heard footsteps coming up the stairs and so Hermione and Ginny quickly closed the door. They heard two people talking in hushed voices and some giggling. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and nodded at the same time. Sirius and Remus were planning something. They stepped away from the door and silently locked it.

"Oh girls," a voice, that was unmistakably Sirius' voice, said through the door in a high crack. "Can I come in? I have some cookies for you."

Hermione and Ginny grinned at each other. Hermione got a sudden idea. She put her finger to her mouth, saying that Ginny was not to say a word. Ginny looked at her in question, but nodded all the same. "You are not our mother. Because if you were, your paws should be white."

It seemed that Sirius and Remus had to rethink there acting and were now probably planning something else. "So if you are our mother," Hermione continued, with a high pinched, sheepish, voice. "Please let us see you're paw." She grinned and ordered to Ginny that she had to hide under the bed. Ginny did as she was told, but still shot confused looks in her direction. Hermione stared at the floor. A white paw showed under the door. She grinned. Her plan had worked.

"Please let me in," a voice cracked through the door. Hermione wrestled herself under the bed. She smiled at Ginny and let the door fly open. In the doorway stood a dog with one white paw and Remus Lupin. The dog changed in to Sirius Black. Both were neatly shaved and dressed in old fashioned suits.

"Come out; come out, where ever you are!" Sirius called, as his comrade smelled the air.

Remus grinned evilly. "We know where you are," he said in a singing voice as he walked around the bed. With Sirius on one side and Remus on the other, the girls had only one way left to go.  
They were slowly shifting towards they're only exit.

"NOW!" Hermione yelled and both of them stumbled out from under the bed. They made it halfway, before they were tackled by the two 'grown' men.

Mrs. Weasley found them in a tickling contest, laughing like they're life depended on it. "Well, it's good to see you four are finally laughing," she said with a little smile of her own. You could see by the puffed red eyes that she had been crying just moments before.

"It's no use to keep crying," Ginny said wisely, but still all they're smiles faded.

"Try to cheer Ron up too," Mrs. Weasley nearly begged, as she laid down the laundry on a chair. They all looked at each other as she left.

Before anyone could say another sound, there came a loud _crash_ from down the steps. "Tonks' home," Sirius said, smiling at Lupin.

Hermione grinned. "Oh, _sweetheart_," Ginny called with a singing voice.

"What are you all on about," Lupin said, his face turning a lovely shade of red. He got up and walked down the stairs, leaving behind a howling Sirius and two red and laughing girls.

After the laughter died down a little, Sirius spoke up. "Let's drag Ron from his room and see what is for supper then? Maybe we can find the two lovebirds, so we can make fun of them."

…………………………………………………………………

They had dragged Ron out of his room. God knows, he really needed to get out of there. His hair was all messy and tangled together. His eyes were red and lay deep in his face. His cheeks were red and his pyjamas looked like they could use a wash. Lupin and Tonks weren't kissing or doing anything of the affection they were hoping to see.

All the Weasley's were in the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was cooking; Mr. Weasley was in conversation together with Bill and Percy. The twins seemed to be talking together about something of importance, because they seemed to be in deep thought. Charlie was talking to Lupin and Tonks was laying the table for dinner. Mundungus seemed to be half asleep and Dumbledore was in light conversation with McGonagall.

"Ah, better," Dumbledore said smiling sadly as the rest of them entered. "I have news. As Harry's will is yet to be recovered, Sirius will be holding on to his possessions till it is made clear who gets what."

A silence had fallen over the room for the moment. Mrs. Weasley was sniffing again as were Hermione, Ginny, Tonks and Ron. "The Diggory's have rejected the money of the triwizard winnings and have placed it into your care, Arthur and Molly. They wanted to give it to the closest family Harry had and since the Dursley's have cut all bonds, the moment Harry never returned they will not inhere a thing. I have talked about this with Sirius and Remus and they both agreed that you would be best to take the money."

They seemed to have wanted to protest in the beginning, but after Mr. and Mrs. Weasley heard the reasons, they fell silent and nodded in agreement. "Also, for happier news, we have evidence to clear Sirius." The small kitchen exploded with sound and within seconds Sirius was covered with everyone who wanted to hug him.

…………………………………………………………………

Hermione and Ginny were gripping each others hands tight. Ginny had tears in her eyes, but she didn't know if it was because Hermione was gripping her hand so tightly or that she had to face Cedric in a few moments. She looked sideways. It seemed that Ron was having a harder time than her.

Her mother stepped up behind them. "Are you children ready? Hermione, I think you're gripping they're hands to tightly."

Hermione seemed to snap out of her daydream and realized that she was nearly squashing the hands of both her friends. She quickly let go. "Sorry," she muttered and looked down in shame.

"Don't worry about it Hermione," Ginny said, her voice nearly shaking with emotions. "We're all a bit nervous." Hermione looked at her and smiled weakly.

Mr. Weasley came to stand next to his wife. "Well," he said. "I'd love to stay and stand here all day, but Cedric may be waiting for us. So, let's move in, shall we?" The three friends nodded, Hermione already sniffing and Ginny trying to blink away her tears. Ron stepped through the portal to St. Mongo's first, followed quickly by Hermione, and the rest of the Weasley's.

Mr. Weasley, clearly tired of all the stopping, quickly walked to the desk, to ask which floor they had to be in. "Come on children," he said turning around. "We have to be on the fourth floor."

Ron, Hermione and Ginny both sighted and turned, with the rest of the family, towards the stairs. Slowly all the Weasley's and Hermione climbed the stairs, each of the children wanting to talk about what happened, but all too scared to do so. They arrived in the wide hall with on each side different rooms.

"Here we are," Mr. Weasley said. "Now only a few may go in at a time, so why don't you three go in first before the others." Ron, Hermione and Ginny looked at each other and nodded.

"Let's go," Ron said in a raspy voice. He hadn't talked for a long time. He reached for the door and opened it. A stream of sunlight filled the hallway for a few seconds, before they closed the door behind them.

Cedric was lying in a big hospital bed. He had some bandages around his head and arms, but he seemed to be healing pretty well. When the door closed behind the three he looked up from where he had been staring at the ceiling.

He smiled a little. "I was wondering when you three would come." His voice sounded like Ron's. As if he hadn't used it in days, weeks even.

Hermione took a seat left of him, Ron in the chair beside her and Ginny on the right. "How are you?" Hermione said carefully.

Cedric smiled again. "Better then I was." Ginny took a good look at him. He no longer was that handsome seeker from the past year. His face looked like Harry's had done. Small and fragile. And his eyes seemed too hollow.

"Do you get many visitors?" she asked to keep conversation going.

He looked at her and she sensed his hesitation. "My parents and Cho." He struggled with his shoulders, as if saying that it wasn't much. A short silence followed. "You didn't talk much to them did you?"

Cedric looked at her in shock, but then shook his head and looked away. "So what are you all doing here?"

Ron swallowed and stared at the floor. "We wanted to know what happened." Ron looked up at him, but now Cedric looked down. He almost looked ashamed.

The Hufflepuff seeker looked at his hands, as if looking for the right words. "It's hard to forget, but it's even harder to remember sometimes. What I remember most of all, was his voice. Before it all began. Voldemort," It seemed strange to hear it from his mouth, but no one shuddered at the name. He seemed to have accepted it. "Made me watch. Watch how he came back; watch how he summoned his Death Eaters. Watch how he…" His voice died a little.

Ginny took her chair and placed it closer by the bed. She took his hand in silent support. He looked at her and slimed thankfully. "I saw everything and although it is getting harder to recall, I can still hear Harry's voice in my head. Not how he told me about the dragons. Not even how he yelled at me to watch out for that giant spider. No, it was more of a soft, reassured whisper. Be brave, he said to me. Be brave and calm. He got tortured after that. But maybe I should start at the beginning.

"We laded in a graveyard after we took the portkey. We reached both for our wands. We thought it was part of the maze. Maybe an extra assignment. I was so surprised when another man came towards us. Harry had collapsed and I was trying to help him. He whispered that we had to get out of there, but it was too late. Within seconds we were tight up against one of the gravestones. The man and Harry seemed to know each other, because Harry called him Wormtail." Ron cursed and Hermione breathed in loudly.

Cedric and Ginny looked at the pare. "What?" Ginny looked at them with stern eyes. "Did you know that man?"

Hermione nodded and removed her hands from where she had clapped them against her mouth. "That was the man who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort. Wormtail aka Peter Pettigrew is the reason Harry has no parents."

Ginny and Cedric looked at Hermione in shock. "What? Is this true?" Ginny looked at Ron, with fire in her eyes.

"But I thought Sirius Black was the one who betrayed the Potters?" Cedric asked.

Ron and Hermione shook they're heads. "No, Sirius was never the secret keeper of the Potters. Everyone thought he was, because he was the most logical choice. But Peter became secret keeper, because no one would ever guess it was a weakling like him. But it seemed that Peter had been working for _him_ all along."

Now Cedric and Ginny both looked horrified as well. "No wonder Harry called him a traitor," Cedric whispered.

"But what happened next?" Hermione, Ron and Ginny both looked at Cedric again.

"Well, we were tied up of course and Wormtail started a ritual. He used Harry's blood too." Cedric shuddered. He seemed to be recalling everything that happened. "And then," he swallowed. "And then, he came. From the cauldron. _Voldemort_. He looked like a snake. And those horrible red eyes."

Cedric turned away, closing him eyes as if trying to rid himself of the memory. Ginny looked at her brother desperately. She wanted to hear the rest, but she just couldn't force Cedric to continue.

……………………………………………………………………………

When the three of them had given up hope that Cedric would talk again, did he open him mouth. "He laughed at Harry's whimpering," Cedric whispered. "Harry was in so much pain already and when the Death Eathers came, they hurt him even more. Called him names and tortured him. And still Harry kept looking at me, with those eyes. They were filled with hurt and hope. I could do nothing, nothing to help.

And then, with the last of his strength he threw the Portkey to me. I still don't know how he did it. It must have hurt so much. And I think he was at the last of his powers. His wand lay broken on the ground and he was on fire. I still don't know how he did it."

Ginny was in tears. No longer could she restrain them. "He suffered so much. Even as a child. It's just not fair."

This time, it was Cedric who grabbed Ginny' hand. "Don't worry," he said. "He wouldn't want us to cry. He would want us to fight, to be brave." Ginny nodded and smiled her thanks.

"We have to go," Hermione said softly.

"You may see me in the next school year," Cedric said with a watery smile. Ron raised his eyebrows in question.

"I didn't get to finish my exams," Cedric answered his unspoken question. "I'm allowed to come back for half a year and do my exams in December, if I finish everything on time."

Hermione smiled. "Good luck then and then we'll see you at school." Cedric smiled and waved his goodbye.

The three of them stepped onto the hallway again. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley seemed to have gone. "I think they're in the restaurant," Ron said. They all silently agreed to move further up the stairs towards the restaurant.

"It really opened my eyes, you know," Ron said. "If Harry was brave enough to stand up against Voldemort, then we all can be brave enough to except him death." Ginny looked at her brother in admiration.

"You're right," Hermione said. "We can be sad forever, but we have a monster walking around who is trying to kill everyone. We had better prepare for the worst and grieve later. That didn't sound right did it?" Hermione looked thoughtful.

Ginny laughed and Ron slimed. "You're right," Ginny said with a smile. "It didn't sound right at all, but we understand the meaning of your words and that is what matters."

………………………………………………………………

And that is how the three of them arrived in the restaurant and how the two Weasley elders found them. All three with smiles on their faces and joking about different things. It's not what they had expected, but it was sure a whole lot better that the last few weeks had been.

A/N: now, for the record, Ginny knew Sirius was innocent, but didn't know who it was that betrayed the Potters. That is why she reacted like that. So I entered a few pharagraph's on good luck. I'll try to mind them from now on and I'm sorry for cousing so much trouble.


	3. As summer turns into fall

_**Chapter 2**_

_**As summer turns into fall**_

**Mystery still not solved, Death Eaters "burned out".**

_The ministry still hasn't got a clue, but doesn't seem to complain. The places in Azkaban are quickly filled as Death Eaters 'rapport' themselves in the front office of the ministry. Many have been burned with special signs. They are still not saying who "sends" them, but it seems You-Know-Who is having it difficult. We do not know for sure how many Death Eaters there are left, but the plundering and killing is lessening every week__…_

**Cornelius Fudge resigns, who will be his successor?**

_This morning, minister Cornelius Fudge, resigned. "I will stay to help, until there will be a new minister for magic." At the question why he resigned he could only state; "I have done all I can. Now, a new minister may complete the order of this world." It seems that the minister has buckled under the pressure, though he refuses to confess. Now is the question of who will succeed him. We have asked Albus Dumbledore, but he gave us the answer; "I could not leave my school, even if you gave me a hundred gallions for it. My care is for the children." We also asked him if he preferred someone. "I could not thing of anyone, for many fit the job," was all he answered__…_

**Mysterious burn mark revealed, person unknown.**

_Mungo's Healers spent the entire day in revealing the, until recently, unidentified burn. After different combinations of spells preformed on one of the Death Eaters in custody, the mysterious burn mark cleared. It seems that all Death Eaters were newly 'recruited' to the one with a phoenix symbol. Many turned toward professor Dumbledore, since he was the only wizard in Great Brittan known to have a phoenix under his care. Dumbledore laughed and said; "If Fawkes knew how to produce a burn mark, I would have been the first to know." As we asked for an explanation, he answered; "We can only that this person, who ever he is, that he or she helps us in our search for justice. If he hadn't been here, Sirius Black would still be on the run for something he didn't do. Plus, it saves us a lot of searching for innocent people." It seems that Dumbledore thinks high of this individual. We can only hope that this person stays on our side__…_

**You-Know-Who, fear the name.**

_For years people didn't dare use the name. Only powerful man, such as __professor Dumbledore, seemed to be able to speak it, without fearing it. But since Cedric Diggory has returned from the graveyard, more people are willing to speak his name. Harry Potter, known for his bravery and innocence, has set an example by saying his name many times before his death. Cedric Diggory seems to have followed his example. "You cannot fear a name," so he said in an interview giving shortly before he returns to Hogwarts this September. "Harry showed us many things and what I learned from him, is that if you fear the name of something or someone, you only fear them even more." Even Harry Potter's late best friends seemed to think this way too. "It is true," says Ronald Weasley. "Harry has always said his name, never fearing it. And we all learned from him, just like Cedric said, to not fear someone's or something's name. Because it grows in power when you do." Wise words for someone so young, but there is only truth in his words…_

A/N: I thought I would give you some information. All the questions that are being asked, well you'll just have to wait for the next chapters for more information. Girls may cry longer than boys… I'm someone who doesn't cry very often. Not even when my grandfather died, did I cry. But I can tell you this, when you lose a loved one, you can still cry a year after everything has happened. The game Hermione and Ginny were playing with Sirius and Remus was more of a distraction. It was a sad version of a fairytale. Maybe seven goats and a wolf will give you a hint…


	4. The lost Will

_**Chapter 3**_

_**The lost will**_

A fire with a green glow was burning as another Death Eater fell to the ground. Softly, a figure came from the darkness. A Phoenix song was heard and the figure placed his hand on the arm of his victim. The unconscious man twitched a little, as the man from the darkness set his arm on fire. A soft cry escaped the man' lips and the dark figure smiled cruelly.

"Now you get what you deserve," the man spat. But he had more of a boy' voice. The figure made a complex gesture and the Death Eater vanished. Then, as silently as he had come, the man disappeared.

The wind carried with it a small note. Only the wind seemed to find it important what happened here tonight. A small amount of ash was blown away with that wind, but no one in the house knew what happened. Not even the chickens…

………………………………………………………………………

Ginny Weasley woke up in the early hours of the morning. It was the last day of the summer vacation and tomorrow she would leave for her fourth year at Hogwarts. On the one hand, she really wanted to see everyone again and to get out of this depressing house. On the other hand, the fact that Harry had been unable to finish his fourth year was a scary thought.

She shook of the depressing thoughts away and ran down the steps. Her mother, like always, was cooking breakfast and smiled at her.

"Good morning, sweet heart," Molly Weasley said to her only daughter.

"Good morning mum," Ginny said, giving her mother a good morning kiss. She took a seat and her mother gave her a plate of breakfast. "Thanks mum."  
Mrs. Weasley gave her a soft smile and resumed her cooking. Ginny ate her breakfast in silence.

…………………………………………………………………………

After about thirty minutes the kitchen was starting to get more crowded. Her father and Percy had left for work, Fred and George were talking in a corner of the living room and Ron was eating his breakfast very slowly. Ever since Harry was gone, he didn't seem to be hungry anymore.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ron asked. Ginny looked at him. Her brother looked nervous, as if he was trying to make a decision on something.

Ginny smiled at him. "Sure." Ron stood up from the table and started to walk up the stairs again.

Ginny shot her mother a questioning glance, but her mother only had eyes for Ron' back. Who could blame her?

Ginny followed Ron up the stairs to his room. Ginny had never liked her brother's room, it was too orange. But now even the room seemed to have lost its glow.

"I was packing for tomorrow when I found this." The room was covered in different items that Ginny guessed used to be in his trunk.

Ron was holding out a piece of paper. "Go one, take it."

Ginny looked at him strangely before she took it. "It actually started out as a joke; we never thought to use it."

Ginny looked in shock at the paper. "This is Harry's will!"

Ron nodded. "We each wrote one after we had that fight. It was sort off _our_ thing. I remembered it, when Harry died and told Dumbledore. That's when we all went looking for it. Even Sirius and Remus know."

Ginny cried as she read it.

_This is the will of Harry James Potter, son of the late James and Lily Potter. Witness Ronald Billius Weasley. That I may have died fighting._

_For Sirius Orion Black, who is innocent and has never betrayed my parents, I leave the Marauders Map and my Invisibility Cloak._

_To Remus John Lupin, I leave my family locket that I found in the vault one day and my dairy that I kept for my health. I also leave to him a part of my money._

_To Arthur and Molly Weasley and their children I leave the rest of my money. To Ronald I leave my Firebolt and to Ginny I leave my heart and my family ring, which too I found in my family vault._

_To Hermione Jean Granger I leave all the good advise she gave me and leave her some advice too. Please, see past Ron's thick head and be happy with him._

_To Rubeus Hagrid I leave my trunk and Hedwig that he may take good care of her._

_To Professor Albus Dumbledore I leave my books and notes that he may find them interesting._

_To all my friends I leave my photos, so they can divide them between each other._

_If they have not found it jet, there are a few items under the loose floorboard under my bed at the Dursley's._

_This is my will and let no-one think otherwise._

_To all my friends, you were the family I never had and I thank you for it._

"What does he mean that he gave his heart to me?" Ginny looked at her brother is confusion and hope. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were covered in tears streaks.

"It means that he loved you Gin," Ron said, taking a seat on his bed. "He told me the day we made this and the day before he entered the maze."

Ginny landed on the bed next to her brother. "Why? Why didn't he tell me? Does Hermione know?"

Ron shook his head. "I didn't want to wake her up, but what do we do now?"

"Go to the headmaster off course," another voice sounded from the doorway. Brother and sister looked up and both saw Hermione standing in the doorway. She still had her pyjama on.

Ron turned red. "How long have you been standing there?" he asked, his voice turning into a horse whisper.

Ginny grinned at her brother's reaction. Harry was right, Ron could be completely insensitive, but when it came too Hermione…

"Long enough," Hermione said and she took the will that Ginny was holding out. Hermione scanned it, laughed and let a few tears drop. "The rest will want to see this too." And she took it with her.

Ron and Ginny shared a look, before they followed her downstairs. They could hear their mother say something and drop another. When they reached the kitchen they had already planned their escape.

Mrs. Weasley was crying again, pressing her handkerchief against her face and a broken bowl was lying in pieces around her feet. Hermione was sitting in one of the chairs, her head low and staring at Harry' will as if she was trying to make it go away.

"Mum, let's contact Sirius and Professor Dumbledore. I think they'll want to know." Ginny's voice was still a bit shaking, but her massage came through. Mrs. Weasley nodded and walked towards the fireplace.

Hermione looked up while Mrs. Weasley made the fire call. "Ron," she said, looking a bit unsure. "Can we talk?"

Ron turned a bit red, but nodded and they both left the kitchen. "I'm coming!"

Ginny looked at the fireplace and shielded her eyes in time. And there he was, Sirius Black, late godfather of Harry Potter. The one man she wanted to talk too.

"Where is it?" His voice was raw, either from crying or shouting. His hair was a mess, his clothes were worn out and his eyes seemed a bit glassy.

Mrs. Weasley showed him the will. Sirius took it and started too read. The moment he fell into a chair with a great sigh, the flames turned green again to reveal Remus Lupin. He looked a bit better then his friend, but it seemed that they had 'infected' each other.

Sirius finished reading it for the second time, before he let out a small and sad laugh and gave it too his best friend. "He's just like Lily, with a hint of James."

Remus started reading it and Ginny smiled. "You make him sound like a recipe." Sirius looked at Ginny and smiled too. "And maybe you're right, but I liked him that way."

Remus finished and sighted. "You're right, Sirius, he does sound like Lily. We will never forget his generosity. But where is Ron? I thought he was the one who found it?"

Ginny grinned. "Hermione kidnapped him. I think she is following Harry's advice."

The kitchen exploded with happiness and laughter. After two months of mourning, all of them had found peace. The spirit of Harry Potter brought them happiness and many memories. When she would go back to school tomorrow, Ginny wouldn't feel sad or too distracted. She would go too school; she would go with her head held high…

A/N: This is not a; "we need to destroy the Horcruxes!" story. This story begins at the end of part four. And I'm making it different. So NO Horcruxes. But thanks for reviewing.


	5. Start of Something New

**Chapter 4**

**The start of something new**

The flaming red train burped up a lot of steam and a whistle cut through the talking crowd. Mothers and fathers, grandparents and guardians kissed their children goodbye and wished them a good trip. Telling them too have a good school year and gave them a last warning, too behave themselves. The children promised and joined their friends.

On the top of the station, one was watching the routine of farewell. He watched with his burning, green eyes as the train left. A song was played and he looked up. His rags blew in the wind and he frowned. He looked once more, but the train had left and the rest were departing towards their homes. He sighted and the redness in his eyes took over. In a few seconds he was gone…

Ginny Weasley, now forth year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was staring at Luna Lovegood with a dazed expression. "What?"

"It's true," Luna said, in her dreamy voice. "Dad says that, according to everything that has been happening, the Phoenix cry is a way to revive victims who have suffered death by murder. The treenumbs have the same gift, but you have to be revived within one minute."

Ginny looked out the window. "Then there is no possibility that Harry is alive. I mean, he was in the presence of Lord Voldemort, not to mention at least twenty Death Eaters."

Neville Longbottom, also present in the same compartment, hung his head again. "So, no hope what so ever."

Ginny looked at him with a look that was worthy of her mother. Neville flinched. "There was never hope, Neville," Ginny said in a stern, almost angry, voice. "Harry is gone and there was never hope that he would be revived again."

Neville looked at her as if she would bite his head off. Ginny softened. "Sorry Neville." But he shook his head.

"No, I should be sorry. There is just a part of me who still believes he's alive."

Ginny looked at her hands. "I know what you mean."

Luna placed her arm around her shoulders. Ginny smiled. "Thanks. I'm okay."

The door of their compartment slid open and all three looked up, expecting too see Ron and Hermione. They were disappointed. "What do you want Malfoy."

Ginny looked a little bit shocked at Neville' cold voice, but agreed with his question. Malfoy sneered, but his heart didn't seem to be in it.

"Nothing you would want to know, Longbottom." He gestured towards Crabbe and Goyle and left the compartment.

The three friends looked at each other. "Well, that was the shortest conversation with him ever," Ginny said with a laugh. The other two nodded, but before either of them could say anything else the door opened again.

"Did something happen? We saw Malfoy coming out of this compartment," Ron said.

Hermione nodded. "But he wasn't really interested in us. So he didn't really bother us." They both landed in a seat, still holding hands.

"It's really serious then?" Neville asked, pointing at their hands. Hermione smiled and seemed to glow. Ron just turned red. Ginny laughed.

"Yeah, it's serious alright. After some good advice and a long snogging session."

Ron started to sputter and Hermione hid her face after it started to colour a little. The compartment was filled with laughter and the happy atmosphere lingered until they finally reached Hogwarts.

The Great Hall hadn't changed what so ever. It candles were still shining bright and the ceiling still showed the endless sky. The first stars were already appearing, awaiting the students.

The teachers were talking amongst each other, a few still absent. Professor McGonagall was waiting for the first years too arrive and Hagrid was guiding the first years towards the castle in the boats.

The first of the second till seventh year students entered the Hall, filling it with noise. Each took their seats on their own house table. Soon the whole Hall was filled with chatter and an occasional hit on the table, seat, plate or glass.

The noise reached its peak and on that moment professor McGonagall entered with the sorting hat and the first years. The Hall turned silent and all its attention turned towards the hat:

_I may look a bit dusty,  
__And maybe I am,  
__But there is much wisdom  
__In this old hat._

_For I have seen it all.  
__The beginning,  
__When all was at peace,  
__When the four started it all._

_Helga Huffelpuff and her willingness,  
__Rowena Ravenclaw and her intelligence,  
__Salazar Slytherin and his cunningness,  
__Godric Gryffindor and his courage._

_I was there when they came together,  
__I was there when they fought,  
__I was there when hell broke loose,  
__And I'm still here today._

_We may have lost a lot,  
__We may have broken our__ path,  
__But we can still come together,  
__We may still gain a little bit more._

_This school was build to learn,  
__And I was made to divide.  
__But do not be afraid,  
__You are still part of each other inside._

For a second it was silent, but then the Hall irrupted in polite applause. "The sorting hat is right," Hermione whispered to Ron, Ginny and Neville. Ginny and Luna nodded in agreement, but Ron just frowned and Neville looked lost.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, but Hermione shook her head as McGonagall started calling off the first years.

"I have but two words for you," Dumbledore said as the last first year took its seat. "And those are; Bon Appetite." He took his seat again and dinner appeared on the tables.

"Will you tell me now what he meant?" Ron asked, loading his plate with different sorts of food.

"Well, since you insist and since you have worked up your appetite again. The sorting hat seems to think that it is time to remember us that we are all the same. That even though we reside in different houses and come from different parts of the country we are all the same. And if we want to make a stand, we must all work together."

Ron raised an eyebrow and Neville nodded. "Aha."

Ron looked at Neville. "You believe that?"

Neville nodded. "Of course. Didn't you notice that there was a girl and a boy walking into the Hall? They were happily chatting. One had a Wales' accent and the other seemed to come from London. And when they were both sorted into different houses they looked a bit sour. And look."

He pointed at the end of the Ravenclaw table and the Slytherin table. There a boy and a girl seemed to be turning constantly towards each other. "Although they reside in a different house they seemed to have developed a bond. Because they have the same interest in one thing or the other."

Ron now too nodded in understanding and a lot of students seemed to have followed their conversation, because a lot of them were now too talking amongst themselves about different theories.

Dinner passed without anything else and as the last of the scraps disappeared, Dumbledore arose from his seat. "Now that we all have enjoyed a good meal, I wish your attention for a few small things. The Forbidden Forest is forbidden and I wish that you all print this in your heads. For it is not a warning to take lightly. There are a few items banned, the list of these items you can find in Mr. Filch' office. Magic is not allowed in the corridors. The prefects will lead the first years to the dormitories. Good night."

Everyone started to stand, but the door of the Great Hall opened for something else. The students started to whisper to each other, but the teachers didn't seem to notice. Not until someone screamed. Everyone turned towards the one screaming.

Luna Lovegood was staring towards the ceiling and seemed to have screamed. Everyone in the Hall looked up. A gigantic creature, at least two meters long, was hovering a few meters from the ceiling. When it realized it was discovered it attacked.

The students ran towards the exit and the teachers all pointed their wands at the creature. But before any of them could do anything, smoke and fire started to surround the creature and a soft singing filled the air.

Fawkes the Phoenix flew into the Hall and a cloaked figure followed it. The figure ran over the tables, as the students were still scattered all over the Hall. The figure jumped and surrounded itself in flames. "Teleport," he yelled and the smoke around the creature started to glow. Then it was gone.

The unknown man landed in frond of the teachers table. "I wish to thank you, sir. Will you show us who you are." The headmaster seemed to be very brisk about this, but the unknown man just laughed.

"You find me no _sir_ headmaster," he said and his voice was like that of a child. "But if you wish to know me, I will gladly show you." He lowered his hood and the whole Hall gasped.

A/N: I'm sooo proud of myself! I get amazing reviews and people keep putting me in their alert list! You are all so sweet. I hope you realize that I'm not a very fast writer. And I appreciate the tips you keep sending me. About treenumbs, I thought it would be a good word for Luna. No idea what they are, but if you want to know about them more I can really make them something. And I hope you like my sorting hat song. I forgot to say that Ron and Hermione were made prefects this year, so now you know. And the creature is explained in the next chapter, so don't worry.


	6. Explanations

**Chapter 5**

**Explanations**

A silence had fallen upon the hall. And the first one to speak was no other that Severus Snape. "This is not fair," he declared. "Potter is still alive."

The figure now known as Harry Potter looked at him with his piercing green eyes. "Ah!" he said. "You must be professor Severus Snape. It's a pleasure, I'm sure."

"Harry!" Ginny called as she was making her way towards him.

He now focused his eyes upon her and smiled. "Ah, and then there is she, who he loves most." He laughed silently.

"You are not Harry Potter!" All the students turned in the direction of the voice, but Cedric had only eyes for the figure.

"Cedric Diggory?" the fake Harry asked. Cedric nodded and the fake Harry smiled. "He'll be pleased to know you're alive."

The figure started to glow and after a blinding flash of light that left everyone blinking, a new person took the place of Harry James Potter. His hair was flaming red and spiked. The tips of his spikes were blond and his skin was tinted brown. His eyes were glowing red, but still held a yellowy colour. He wasn't too long, but seemed very short for his age. He was dressed, from head to foot, in black, with an occasional flame.

"Who are you?" Ginny demanded and everyone seemed to agree. Fawkes let out a soft note and the mysterious man smiled.

Then he bowed. "Captain Jack, pioneer from the planet Rex and flame thrower, at your service." And he smiled his most charming smile.

Dumbledore coughed politely and everyone now focused on him. "Students! Will you please return to your dormitories? Ginny and Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger and Cedric Diggory, please accompany me to the room next to the Hall. Prefects guide the first years to the dormitories.

Mary Higgins, Simon Peterson," the two seventh years in question seemed surprised to be singled out by the headmaster, but didn't complain. "If you will guide the first years of Gryffindor towards the Gryffindor tower. I'm afraid Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley will be busy. Teachers please make sure no one gets lost. Captain Jack,"

Jack looked up from where he was staring at the ground. "Oh am I being noticed again?"

Dumbledore smiled, but he had lost his twinkle. "If you'd please follow us." He turned and walked towards the side door. Jack smiled.

Cedric walked in the room on the other side of the Hall. "Last time I was here, I was entering the Tournament."

Ginny, Ron and Hermione walked in behind him, sharing a look of curiosity and worry. "What do you make of him?" Ginny whispered, glancing behind her to see if Dumbledore and Jack were already following them.

"I don't know," Hermione said and Ron just struggled his shoulders. "I've never heard of the planet Rex or of a flame thrower." The four of them took a seat.

"I would have been surprised if you had." Jack walked into the room and dropped himself in one of the chairs. "Not many people know of the time and space lords, so who would know about an element ruler. I would have laughed if you knew about a low placed flame thrower."

"But why did you take the form of Harry?" Ginny asked. "It's not very respectful to walk around in a dead mans body."

He smiled at her in a charming way, but she just scrolled at him. "Spoilsport. I'll tell you. It was his idea, so don't be mad at me."

"You mean Harry Potter is still alive?" Dumbledore seemed surprised for once and it affected the mood in the room a bit.

"Alive and, well I can't really say he's alright since he's got this big burn-mark on the side of his face and that lightning scar's not the most charming thing on his face. Very into himself too, not very good to keep all that anger bottled up inside. But he's doing a good job on those Death Eaters." Jack grinned from ear to ear. "Oh and he's probably fighting the Hornscrew right now."

Hermione frowned. "What's a Hornscrew?"

Jack laughed. "This he should have heard. He said you knew everything. Cheers," he raised the glass a little in toast, while Dumbledore continued to remain quiet. The fact that he remained quiet seemed to unnerve all four of them, but he just smiled.

"If you don't mind, I have a few things to arrange." Then he left the room. The four students shared a look.

"Don't worry, he just needs to inform the rest and he has placed a bug in the room so he knows what's going on." The fire thrower seemed to enjoy this immensely and threw back his glass.

"But to come to the point, we have business to discuss. A Hornscrew is the creature you saw tonight. This was a female by the way the male looks completely different. But that's beside the point; they use the wings to fly as well as to defend themselves.

The female is red with black wings and the male is blue with white wings. We usually say; 'They're like fire and ice'. But the Hornscrew thanks its name because of the horn on their heads. They make holes in the mountains, where they sleep, eat and mate. Get it?"

The four of them were staring at Jack as if he were some kind of alien or something. He had spoken so fast that it had been almost impossible to follow it. But I said _almost_.

Hermione nodded, Cedric seemed to wrestle with the information to put it in order and Ginny struggled a bit with her shoulders. Ron just looked lost, but then again he always did.

"Can you just tell us what happened to Harry and slowly this time," he said with a pained expression on his face.

"Why don't you just ask him yourself?" Jack asked. He lifted himself from his chair and walked around the room. He seemed to be unable to sit still for so long. Even though it hadn't been that long.

Ginny fought the urge to throw something at him, merely because she couldn't find anything to throw at him. "Well, he's not here is he? So how can we ask? And since you took the shape of Harry only minutes ago, we assume that you know Harry."

"Ah ha!" Jack said and he turned towards her. He pointed one of his fingers in her direction with an eager expression on his face. "But how do you know that? How do you know I've met Harry Potter? I could've just stolen his body and took his form after I ate him, or something." Jack raised his hands in defence as four wands pointed in his direction.

"Because you wouldn't do such a thing," Ginny answered as she put away her wand. "Because you saved us from that Hornscrew. If you had eaten Harry Potter, than you would have wanted to eat us too and not save us. Plus you said that Harry said some things too you, and he would have only told you those things if he really trusted you.

And no-," Ginny continued as Jack opened him mouth for another comment. "-He wouldn't tell you anything of those things under torture."

Jack grinned, showing his white and pointy teeth. "You are very clever."

Ginny blushed at the comment and took her seat again. The others also took their seats and waited patiently for Jack to continue his story.

Jack took another walk around the room, taking in every detail, until he returned to his seat by the fireplace. "I met Harry Potter about one and a half months ago. He looked like he had just went through hell and back." Jack shivered, a reflex that didn't seem to suet him at all. "I'll never forget the look on his face."

He shook his head, snapping out of the daydream he had been in, as Ginny laid a hand on his arm. He grinned. "Where was I?

So, I met him and he was half conscious. His face was full of blisters, red and raw. He seemed to find our meeting funny, because the first time he laid his eyes on me, he smiled and fainted. Not a real mans man is he?" Ron and Cedric laughed silently and the girls just rolled their eyes. Hermione slapped Ron on the arm and Ginny shot Cedric a killing glance.

"Anyway, I couldn't just leave him there, so I took him in. Nursed him back to health, sat at his bed everyday, talking to him while he was crying himself to sleep. Not a pretty site to see." He sighted and stared into the fire. "But he's okay now. And he's rounding up the Death Eaters, so that's a good sign."

The four of them took on surprised looks. "What? You didn't suspect he'd be lying around did you?"

Ron and Hermione rolled their eyes. "He wouldn't be Harry if he would just sit around all day," Ron said. "But from what I read in the papers… it just sound like really advanced stuff."

Jack smiled. "If it helps and I'm sure it won't, but I think that what ever happened and what ever saved him is still in his body."

A/N: I love Jack; he's one of my favourite characters. That I made him up just proves that I'm really crazy. So I gave you guys another piece of the puzzle. Don't worry; Harry will be back in the next chapter.


	7. One Breath

_**Chapter 6**_

_**One Breath**_

(That same evening)

Professor Albus Dumbledore was pacing in his room. No one knew what he was thinking about and no one dared to ask. Fawkes had returned to his stand and didn't seem to be worried about it. He was cleaning his feathers, openly ignoring the others in the room.

Professor Severus Snape was standing in the shadows of the mantelpiece. His eyebrows were knitted together and he had his usual sneer on his face. His thoughts however were racing. How had Potter survived? And who was that man?

Professor Minerva McGonagall was sitting on the edge of her seat and her eyes were following the headmaster. Her features were nowhere near the stern face she usually held. Her thoughts where somewhat lower than that of her colleague. Harry Potter is still alive, was the one line that seemed to be able to exist in her thoughts.

After nearly half an hour of silence the flames in the mantelpiece turned green and a man stepped out of the fireplace. "Where is he?"

It was Sirius Black who had entered the office. Remus Lupin followed him within seconds. "He is gone Sirius. He left a few minutes ago." Dumbledore took his place behind his desk again and Remus took one of the remaining seats.

"You are late once again Black," Snape said from the shadows and Sirius turned towards him. "You have once again failed to be on time for something."

Remus shook his head behind Sirius' back and Sirius growled like a dog, but did not take the bait. "We all make mistakes Snape. That's why we are human. Some just learn to accept them and learn from them. Sit down Sirius."

Everyone turned their attention towards Dumbledore the moment he cleared his throat. "As I told you two and as you two heard from Captain Jack is Harry Potter still alive. No doubt that he will be returning to Hogwarts soon. Until then I want absolute patience. We cannot have everyone spreading rumors through the press. Voldemort is still active and he may not know that Harry is still alive. We do not know what happened that night."

"Headmaster do you have any idea who this Captain Jack could be?" professor McGonagall asked. "I have never heard of him or of this planet Rex."

Dumbledore smiled at them. "I have no idea who this person is or where that planet could be found. I have heard of flame throwers, so I'm positive that Harry is save."

Snape nearly laughed and all turned towards him. "Oh please, Potter is never save. He always finds himself in some kind of trouble."

McGonagall smiled. "It's almost if you were concerned Severus."

Snape snorted and made his way towards the door. "Trust you Gryffindors to come up with a solution like that. I'm leaving." And he was gone.

(The following night and morning)

_Harry breathed out deeply. He opened his eyes slowly and took in his surroundings. He was standing in a large crater and some of the rocks still seemed to glow. Harry coughed a little as__ the smoke entered his lounges._

_Harry blinked and his surroundings changed. He was now high in the sky, floating above the clouds. As he started to loose altitude, he saw that he__ was flying between the mountains, following a river below. He tried to identify the creatures that were walking below._

_H__e blinked again and once again did he find himself in a different part of the world. His mind was still clear as he let out a scream to stop the fighting below. He let fall a silent tear, but it strayed in the wind, healing one of the wounds on one of the fighters._

_Harry blinked again and this time it was nightfall. He was resting in one of the trees. The tree was large and home to many animals. Suddenly a loud noise was heard from below. The tree shook and animals fled. He arose from the tree, just as it fell to the ground._

_Harry blinked and found himself flying amongst the stars. Suddenly he heard a cry and he smelled fire below. The crying seemed to come from within the fire and a lot of men were standing around it, laughing hard. He pitied the one that cried and flew down._

Harry woke up from his nest on the floor. The familiar smell of burned wood filled his nose. He opened his eyes and the light of the sun, blinded him for a few seconds. He closed his eyes again and stretched.

"Ah, so you are awake. I was wondering if I had to wake you up." Jack was smiling. He pointed at a plate with a lump of bread, some meat and a cup of hot water and some herbs.

Harry smiled. "Thanks, so how did it go? You send me a pretty pissed Hornscrew, but you stayed away so long that I just went to sleep." He crossed his legs and started eating.

"Oh, you should have been there! It was hilarious." Jack started eating too. "I really like that professor of yours. He had the most stunned and murderous expression on his face that I was wondering if he had swallowed a poison of his own. He said 'It's not fair' and 'Potter is still alive'. Everyone was probably too shocked to respond on his words, but it cracked me up.

By the way, Cedric is alive and well."

Harry nodded and lowered his eyes a little. "That's good to hear. I wouldn't have expected otherwise. I'm just glad I guess." He laughed softly. "Snape just doesn't change, does he? But he'll see in the end, he'll see. Just got to wake him up a little."

Jack laughed too only a little louder than his friend. "In the end, everyone will see. Anyway, your headmaster is a crazy old coot you know that? He thought he could outsmart me! But no one can outsmart me."

Harry laughed. "Except your mother maybe." He quickly shielded himself from his friend. But when nothing happened, he lowered his defense.

Jack shot him an angry glance. "Your friends may think very highly of you, Mister Potter, but in my books you are still a child."

Note the fact that he didn't contradict it, Harry thought and he chuckled. "So he tried to outsmart you?" Harry asked waving absently and taking a sip of his drink. The herbs calmed him like they always did and he hunched himself in comfort.

"He put silent ears in the room, can you imagine? Anyway I told your friends everything they wanted to know. You friend, Hermione Granger, she didn't even know about Hornscrews and flame throwers. And about that Hornscrew, what happened?"

Harry grinned. "Well, you sent it to me and she was pretty pissed. I'm just glad that I was close to the mountains and that she had a nest. The moment you told me that there was a Hornscrew within the castle walls; I followed the marks of magic of her path. The moment I realized that she was to strong for me I turned to hide. She searched for me for about fifteen minutes before she gave up and flew back to her nest. Those creatures can be pretty aggressive if she's disturbed in the mating and hedging season."

Jack nodded. "Oh, I remember. That's why I left home in the first place. My mother was giving birth to her sixth child and kept screaming that I was useless and should get a job. I just hope she'll forgive me when I go home. It'll be embarrassing enough. Anyway, so what happened to this place?"

Harry looked around the 'room'. There was not much left of the rest of the house. Most of the wall had collapsed and the roof and second floor was almost completely gone. "The family left for a week vacation. One of the younger children thought it would be alright to leave a candle on. When the neighbors finally noticed, the house was beyond saving. The firefighters let it burn down. This room was the dining room once. The house will be broken down and rebuild completely tomorrow."

Jack nodded. "It's amazing how you humans can create such strong bonds with your houses and stuff. It's as if the whole room is stuffed with memories. Even after it is destroyed you can still hear them coming from the walls."

Harry smiled softly. "That is why I'll return to my old house one day. Too see if there is something left so I can listen to all its memories. But it'll have to wait for a while. I first have to return too Hogwarts." Harry fell into a thoughtful silence.

After a few minutes Jack grew restless. He stretched his legs and started to pace though the room. "I don't get why you have to return there, but I won't stop you. I'm coming with you."

Harry started to protest, but Jack shook his head. "You know why Harry, I told you before. I took you in because you needed me. I hold myself responsible for you now and you know why."

Harry sighted. "Stupid flame thrower. Why did I cross your path? Don't answer that, I already know the answer. I have to go too Hogwarts, because I can't spend my nights in every burned out house I see. Plus that I still have to figure out a way to kill Voldemort. It's like he's immune for every trap, trick or whatever that we set out for him. He just refuses to die."

"Wow, he's like you," Jack said laughing at his own joke.

Harry scowled and shot him a killing glance. "You really crack me up," he said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"One breath mister Potter," Jack said raising one finger to strengthen his words. "One Breath."

A/N: The whole 'one breath' thing in the end was because Jack defeated Harry with one breath the first time Harry tried to go after the Death Eaters. He was still healing at that time, but he was really angry. Jack tried to stop him, but Harry was really stubborn. So Jack blew in his face and Harry fell backwards. But it was really to prove a point. Of course, Harry didn't know at that time that Jack had the advantage, because his breath can be counted as a weapon. He can produce windstorms, since his mother had been married to an Air blower. Though Jack is a true Flame thrower, he had that one advantage.


	8. the Phoenix Call

_**Chapter 7**_

_**The Phoenix Call**_

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, home to almost a thousand living beings. The castle itself was 'alive', because of all the magic the living beings 'dropped'. The castle cracked as the warmth of the first beams of sunlight hit its stones. The castle seemed to have great pleasure in absorbing the light.

Then, two 'plops' were heard and the building cracked again. This time in greeting, which pleased the two new comers immensely. Both were cloaked and their faces were only partly visible, but their mouths revealed big smiled.

There was one who bore strange burn marks on his face. He spoke: "Well, I think that the castle is glad that we're back."

The other one laughed. "I think that it's glad, but not because _I'm_ back."

The two moved closer and both could hear that there was a lot of activity in the Great Hall. Both smiled at each other and their eyes were shining with an evil sort of glint. The one nodded to the other and before one could blink, was the one with the burn marks gone.

Harry James Potter landed into the Great Hall with a burst of flames. The hall was packed with students and all teachers were present. Since it was the first day of school and no one knew their timetable yet, there were many sleepy faces sitting on the breakfast table. Though, after a burst of flame, everyone was wide-awake.

Harry chuckled at all the shocked faces. Not many people would have guessed that he still had some sense of humor. After all, he had gone through a lot of harsh times. But since he had met Jack, he had gained not only a lot of lost humor, but also a brother. Not that the Weasley bothers meant nothing to him. They were more of his family, because when one is alone, he creates his own family.

Harry sensed that all of the teachers' wands were pointed at him and the older ones were rushing forwards to protect the younger ones.

"Who are you? What do you want?" The voice of Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, seemed to force every other sound away.

Harry smiled and turned towards the respected headmaster. "Why, I only wish to say 'hello'. Is that so odd?"

Minerva McGonagall narrowed her eyes and she seemed to want to hiss like an angry cat. "_Who_ are you?"

Harry' smile widened and he lowered his hat. The teachers seemed to be all a bit taken aback at the site of him, but Harry just laughed. "Do I look that horrible?" He turned so that everyone could look at him.

There was a lot of movement and before Harry could react, someone crashed into his barrier. He looked at the fallen one and his smile softened. "Hi Gin. How are you?"

She looked up at him from where she was lying. "Is it really you?" she asked softly tears glistering in her eyes.

Someone helped her up as Harry pondered the question. "When is it really me?" he asked, more to himself then to anyone else. "When can you truly say that you are really you? I guess part of me is here and part of me is hidden, not yet revealed to anyone but Jack."

Ginny looked at him, confusion clearly shining in her eyes. She took a step closer and stretches out her hand. When her hand finally reached the barrier, she moved close enough to reach it.

Ron and Hermione had finally reached Harry too and both looked at their friend carefully, but Harry had only eyes for Ginny.

"Can you lower the barrier?" she whispered.

Harry shook his head. "It's for your own safety. And for mine too, I guess. When you touch me, you'll burn."

Someone snorted. "Really! Trust Potter to be melodramatic."

Harry turned and his flaming green eyes vested on Severus Snape. The sneer on his face seemed to fade a little as he saw the red flicker of flames reflected is those green eyes. "If you think nothing of my warning, then touch me." Harry' voice was much deeper and more intense when he said those few words.

Severus seemed to think nothing of it. "I'm not a foolish Gryffindor who will risk his life for his 'friends'. But to prove my point," he picked up a spoon from the table.

"Severus be wise," Dumbledore said in a voice that clearly betrayed his concern, but Snape ignored him.

Harry made an 'opening' in his barrier so professor Snape could come through. He reached out one arm from under his cloak. The arm was scarred, as if a million different knives had been driven through it. Some places on the arm were even burned black.

Snape locked eyes with Harry before he placed the spoon on the others arm. Harry' eyes turned completely red this time and his skin looked like it was on fire. The burns on his face first turned red and then changed into black.

The spoon turned red hot and caught fire. On that moment many things happened. Most of the students disappeared except for the fifth year Gryffindors, Ginny Weasley, Luna Lovegood, Cedric Diggory and Fred and George Weasley. Fawkes flew into the Great Hall, Jack hot on his heals and Severus Snape dropped the spoon.

Snape nearly fell backwards as he tried to get away from the scene. "Look what happened," McGonagall cried. Everyone had the same shocked and terrified expression on his or her faces.

"You fool," yelled Jack, as he came closer, with a hint of panic in his voice. "Do you have any idea what you just did?" It looked like a scene from a movie, as he came running down the hall, cloak blowing furiously around him.

Ginny turned towards him. "Jack, what's happening? How did you get here?"

Harry' skin had turned completely black. The barrier disappeared and Fawkes was hovering above him.

Jack ignored the rest of the questions. "Keep as far away from Harry as you can. The Phoenix is rising." He grabbed a bag from one of his pockets. He made a circle around Harry and him with some yellow powder from the bag.

With a clap of his hands the powder ignited. Yellow flames made a circle around the two men.

Tears fell from Harry' eyes as Jack tried to make contact with him. "Harry, come back to us. You're at Hogwarts. Push it away. The Phoenix had no power over you. You destroyed one link; you can destroy this one too. Come on Harry, you can do it."

Jack' words seemed to really work, because after a few seconds Harry closed his eyes. Then Jack did something that no one expected. He slapped Harry in the face.

"What are you doing," both Ginny and Hermione cried, but Harry responded immediately. He opened his eyes again. He smiled and fainted.

The yellow flames disappeared with a snap of Jacks fingers.

(Few minutes of struggle, into Harry's mind)

_My body reacted and flames seemed to burn me up from the inside once Snape took the bait. Trust that man to be blind for the danger ahead. But then again, when it came to me, Severus Snape was always playing with fire._

_I can__ feel how the Phoenix uses my mouth to speak, like it had done before. I try to push it away, but I was so overwhelmed to see everyone again, that I had lowered my guard. I can only listen to its call for revenge and freedom._

_My body burns and my soul hides in the shadows, scared to be burn by the raging flames inside of me. I can only watch helplessly at all the scared faces around me._

_And then I hear it. Another is calling. Singing to me for support. I can see how the patterns of Jack enter the Great Hall. I'm only glad that he if here, but I feel my mind slipping. Shadow and Flame are taking up my mind, swallowing me whole._

_Then, familiar flames, pushing away the shadows. They are crying to me, telling me that I should return. That the path that I'm walking now is wrong. But how can it be wrong? It's warm and comforting._

_At last I can see Jack. His voice is like a broken record, only heard in stages. But Fawkes is talking to me as well. And they are right. This has to stop, because I know the risk. I know the cost._

_Pain is now running through my body, pulling at every muscle and bone. And finally I feel release. An escape. Freedom._

(Back to the normal perspective)

Once Harry had been settled into the Hospital Wing with a strange sort of blue glue on his skin and madam Pomfrey had been strictly requested not to touch him, everyone once again settled into the Great Hall.

Students had been given their timetables and had been requested to take the morning off and go back to their dorms. Some were whooping with glee, others where muttering about being able to sleep in and some, mostly Ravenclaws, where disappointed.

Jack was pacing up and down the teachers table, which had been emptied before. Professor Dumbledore had first requested that he should not walk on the table, so Jack had paced on the stone floors. But after a few minutes he had once again chosen the wooden table to pace on.

Ron and Cedric were silently watching Jack, while Hermione and Ginny were whispering to each other. Some of the teachers had retired to their rooms, but Snape and McGonagall had stayed in the Great Hall, but they were far from silent.

"You should not make rash decisions!" McGonagall said in her stern voice, as if speaking to one of her students.

"And Potter shouldn't have made that proposal!" Snape said, trying to defend himself. He was standing with his arm crossed, standing like a little child who refuses to see his mistake.

"You were the wiser one in that situation!"

"Potter made the wrong moves here!"

"Potter is still a child!"

"And that was proven once again today!"

"Why than did you make the mistake of taking the bait?"

"To prove that Potter is just one more foolish Gryffindor and that he is just as arrogant as his father!"

"STOP IT!" Jack yelled as he stops pacing and turned towards the two professors. "You can only talk about what should and shouldn't have happened. But you are not focussing on what has to happen now! Professor Snape made a mistake that anyone unaware of the situation could have made, but now he has to deal with the consequences. What you saw today was the Phoenix trapped inside of him. And that is also the reason why we came back today. Whether he likes it or not, Harry needs help. We came here for that help."

Snape turned to him with a sneer. "Help you will not get from me! I will not help an attention seeking little -"

"Till there and no further professor," Jack said with burning eyes. "Harry is not an attention seeking person. He is the most forgiving, kind, strong and just person I've ever met and I've met a lot of people professor. The problem is that you don't wish to look past Harry's appearance. You're afraid that once you look further that he looks more like his mother then his father on the inside. And don't you dare to deny it."

Snape clapped his mouth shut and looked in a different direction. But he kept his body facing Jack.

Jack had fallen silent too. He looked tired and he lowered himself unto the table. Something seemed to shatter inside of him and he rubbed his face with his hands.

When his face came into focus again, his face seemed strangely wet. When he finally spoke, his voice sounded tired and helpless. "I just don't know what I supposed to do anymore."

A/N: You're welcome to yell, but hey at least Harry's back.


	9. The Story of Jack

_**Chapter 8**_

_**The Story of Jack**_

The day hadn't quite turned out as anyone had hoped. The lessons had been messier than any first school day lessons, but everyone had finally settled into a peaceful sleep. Except one.

Captain Jack was sitting on the rooftops of Hogwarts castle, looking at the starry sky. The stars seemed to shine brighter that night and seemed to be calling to him. But Jack paid no attention to them. He was in deep thought.

Harry Potter still hadn't awakened and that was a good sign. It showed that his mind was recovering from the attack and that meant that he wouldn't have any permanent damage. No, what Jack worried was the fact that the Phoenix had risen again.

"Maybe my mother was right, maybe I am useless," Jack muttered. Although he didn't look it he was twenty-five and so it had been nearly ten years since he had been thrown through the portal.

Jack sighted and shifted a little. "How can one guy have so much bad luck on one day?"

_Flashback to Jack's past_

Della was high pregnant and was expecting her baby in a week or two. The rest of the children were running around the house, but the eldest was the one that was giving her trouble.

"Jack," she yelled. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Make sure that Maggie gets her bath and then go see if your father has any work for you." It remained silent. "Jack, in the name of Rexieria, answer me!"

There was a lot of movement upstairs and the head of her eldest son appeared on the top of the stairs. "I got a lot to do mum. Let Benny do it."

"Doing what, experiments? And Benny is at school today. So get your ass down here!"

"I told you mum, I'm busy! Leave me alone!"

"If you don't start helping you can leave. And I mean for good! You're a lazy piece of rock you know that? Now if you know what's good for you, then you can come down here right now and put your little sister in bath!"

Upstairs Jack was packing. "People around here don't appreciate the intelligence of magical shaping. If she doesn't want me, then she won't get me." He stormed down the stairs with his backpack furiously slinging from his shoulder.

Maggie, the three-year-old toddler, came running towards him. "Jack, bath!" she called enthusiastically.

Jack smiled; he had a soft spot for his little sister. She had dancing black hair and her eyes were like glowing embers. He picked her up and carried her outside on one arm. He walked around the back of the house and brought her to the awaiting bath.

"Can you see if it's warm?" he asked his little sister. She reached out with her small arm and touched the water. She pulled back, shivering. "Cold," she said pressing her wet hand on his face.

"Burr," he said, indicating that it was cold. He placed his own hand in the water and warmed it. "And now?"

The little girl put her hand in the water again and giggled. "Warm!" She seemed to glow of happiness.

Jack laughed and dropped her in the water. He smiled as his little sister let out a startled cry, but then let herself drift in the water. He washed his sister.

When they finished he blew her hair dry and send her inside. That would be the last time that he would see her. But he only smiled and walked towards one of the bigger craters. It wasn't as if he was going to stay away forever, now was it?

As he reached the crater he noticed that he wasn't the only one. Two men dressed in black cloaks, much more expensive then his, were standing in the middle of the bell crater.

It was called the bell crater, because of the huge bell that hung in the centre of the crater. The bell was once used in times of war as a warning to the troops that there was a crater there. That the bell wasn't placed on the edge of the crater was a mystery to all that cared.

Jack first didn't think anything of it, a lot of strange people could be seen in the craters, but these guys had something over them that seemed unique. They were furiously whispering to each other and pointing in different directions. Jack thought that they might be lost and decided to help them.

"You sirs alright there? Do you need any help?" He made his way down towards them and the figures turned towards him. Their faces were hidden under their hoods, but who was Jack to question them?

"We are just wondering why this bell was placed in the middle on the crater. We first thought it was a direction post, you see? That's why we are now in the middle of the crater."

Jack noticed that the one that spoke had an accent. He made a long, hissing's' and it almost sounded as if he wasn't used speaking that particular language.

"It's actually a monument of a sort. It was built in the war. Now it's a pinpoint to the different cities that lay in between."

He turned and pointed towards the city where he had just come from. "That's the way to the city of Berrios. It's one of the older cities and the change is going slowly. But it's coming."

There was a lot of noise behind him, but he paid no attention to it. He turned and pointed to the west of the city. "If you go that way, then it's another two days by foot to the city of Thommes."

He tuned again, this time to the east, still with his back to the strangers. "That way leads to the capital city Rexieria. It's a long way though and you'll have to follow the steam river, otherwise you'll get lost. And then -"

He turned towards the right, finally facing the strangers, but it was too late. They had pulled their hoods down, showing their faces, which looked a cross between a snake and a lion. Jack felt all colour drain from his face. He had heard of the creatures.

"But you're…"

"Yessss," the Harass said in his hissing tongue. "You have ssseen correct. We are the Harass and you, sweet juicy boy, have come to our calling." The Harass grasped Jack in a farm grip.

Jack tried to call for help but the magic of the Harass was far too strong. The other one was forming some sort of hole in the bell tower. Jack kept struggling. This wasn't how he had planned it. He would have gone to his aunt in Daramia and would have waited for a massage from his mother or father. He would have been home the following day, but now? Tears build up behind his eyes and the urge to scream was almost overwhelming.

"You will be our captain to the other would," the other Harass said and both laughed their strange hissing laugh.

It sent shivers down Jacks spine. "What do you want?" he gasped.

In staid of just saying, one of the Harass threw a pebble through the portal. With the sound of thunder and a blinding light the pebble disappeared through the other… well, the other side he guessed.

When they started to drag him over, Jack started to struggle. The Harass seemed to have thought that Jack hadn't had any strength left in him, but Jack had an amazing strength. Who wouldn't have strength with so many little brothers and sisters?

The Harass that held him, strengthen his grip and pushed Jack towards the portal. "Stop," whispered Jack, trying to get his voice working again. "Don't do it. You'll be sorry. HELP!"

The Harass just laughed their hissing laugh and threw him against the portal. Jack had squeezed his eyes shut, but when nothing seemed to happen, he opened his eyes again.

He had had been thrown against the portal, but it felt like he had been smashed into a wall. He turned and saw that the Harass were looking at him with their catlike eyes. Then he realised that he was still on his own planet. "Ha!" he said in all his smugness. "Didn't see that coming did you? That's what you get when you mess with the almighty 'captain' Jack!"

Then the sound of thunder was heard again, but this time much louder then when the pebble had passed through. Jack felt how he was squeezed between two walls and all the air was knocked out of his lungs. The last thing that he saw was a lone figure standing at the edge of the crater. Then, darkness took him.

The sensation only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity. He heaved in big gulps of air and regained his balance. His eyes flew open at the strangest sound. "Where the hell am I?" he said to himself. He looked around. The clouds were dark, so that was the same, but the further he looked the less dark it became.

And the scenery was completely different too. No craters, no smoking bushes and no ashy roads. Everything was green and brown and Jack heard water close by. "This is definitely not the planet Rex anymore. It's freezing!"

A flash of light blinded him for a second and he jumped in one of the green 'thingies' next to him. He didn't want anyone to find him, before he knew where he was. He looked between the small green things that the green 'thingy' was made of.

A clap of thunder and the Harass appeared out of nowhere. It took a few seconds before they too realised that they weren't on Rex anymore. They started fighting and hissing against each other.

Jack was carefully looking around his to see if he could escape when they both reached for their blades. With a little bit of luck they would kill each other, but Jack didn't want to be there when one of them survived.

He crawled away from under the green thing and crawled over the earth towards - what he hoped - safety. Behind him he heard cries of rage and pain and a big splash of water. Jack looked over his shoulder. He couldn't see either of the Harass and so he leaped of the ground and started to run away from the scene.

_End of Flashback_

Jack remembered how he had found a little hut at the edge of the forest. He had met a girl who had believed that he had come from a different world and had started teaching him all about planet Earth.

But the girl had died after five years that he had lived there and when he had burned her in the traditional way, the people in the village had believed that he had murdered her. So he had been chased away and he had been living from city to city, always moving on. He had met people from all different species, different believes and different tongues.

When he had met Harry it was as if he had found something of home. And now the young man was dying. Well he wasn't sure, but he felt it. He had accepted the fact that he could never go home, but Harry had never had a real home. Except this school than maybe.

The sun was starting to light up the heavens and Jack smiled, it was one of the things that Jack loved about this planet. The sun, with its incredible warmth, was one thing that seemed to exist here too.

The sun seemed to wake up the building too, because life was flowing through it again and Jack knew that the students and the professors - and all the other creatures that he hadn't met yet – were about to wake up.

Then, out of the depths of the school, a cry was heard. "JACK!" Jack felt a shiver go down his spine. For a moment he thought that his mother was here, but then he smiled. "Well," he said as he petted the building and leaped through one of the doors on the roof. "Duty calls."

A/N: I must admit that this story is completely unique. But hey it's magic, so who cares? I know that I'm deliberately making the story bigger and so the storyline a bit long, but there are different characters in every story that need to be explained. So don't hate me for it. I wrote this chapter to show how Jack thinks and that he is also a victim here and he's only trying to help. In the next chapter Harry will explain what happened to him and that chapter will probably be posted next weekend. So, keep you chin up and keep reviewing because that makes me happy. Love you all.


	10. I think I died

_**Chapter 9**_

"_**I think I died"**_

It was a quiet evening in Hogwarts castle. Everyone had just finished dinner and had retired to their dorms and private rooms. Only one student was stationed in a hospital bed.

Harry Potter was surrounded with three teachers and three students. Professor Dumbledore, professor McGonagall and professor Snape were standing on the left side of him. Well, Snape was standing next to the door and Dumbledore and McGonagall were sitting next to the bed.

Ginny, Ron and Hermione were sitting on the right side of Harry. Ron was sitting on the next bed and Hermione and Ginny were sitting on one of the chairs. They had been dining with him and chatting about the first days on school. Ginny had been holding his hand for the last hour, but Harry hadn't even noticed.

Cedric had visited just before dinner and they had talked about what had happened. Ron, Hermione and Ginny had arrived shortly after Cedric had left. Jack had been around since the Harry had woken up in the Hospital and Harry was glad. Jack was the only one who understood his 'condition'. Now Jack was sitting at the foot end of his bed, silently smiling.

A silence had fallen upon the group of people. Harry stared them all down. Albus Dumbledore, headmaster and the most insane person in the school. Minerva McGonagall, animagus, teacher and head of Gryffindor house. Severus Snape, ex Death Eater, teacher and head of Slytherin house.

Harry locked eyes with Jack and laughed. "What a pair!"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, but Harry beat him. "Yes, yes, I know why you are all here. What's the point in delaying it anyway? And you all have your reasons for being here, so what's the point in asking." Harry grinned, but let the grin fall when the left side of his face started to pull.

He winched. "That hurt. Anyway, so you all wanted to know what happened?" He sighted and stared at the light wall of the Hospital Wing. "You all know by now that Cedric and I were taken by the Portkey to the graveyard. I've guessed for weeks why he kept Cedric alive, but I'm not Voldemort, so I have absolutely no idea."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Even you aren't that thick. You must have some idea why he left him alive." They all turned towards him and Harry smiled.

"You _are_ here because you're curious. But curiosity killed the cat, you know."

Snape just rolled his eyes. "Just answer the _bloody_ question."

Harry laughed. "Patience is an art. But I'll tell you anyways. The first thing I thought was; why would he keep Cedric alive in the first place? Well, that's simple. He wanted to humiliate me, drive me to insanity while a bystander was watching helplessly. But he has his Death Eaters for that, I then thought. So why _would_ he keep Cedric alive? Maybe he thought that when he was done with me, used me in his resurrection, that I wouldn't be alive anymore. That I would be useless. So he needed someone to _play_ with. Someone to test his abilities on."

Harry sighted and grinned to all the bystanders. "But who knows what Voldiepants had been thinking. It's not like he's the easiest person to analyze."

Snape's eyebrows seemed to disappear completely, Dumbledore was openly smiling and McGonagall went for a polite cough. On the other side Ron, Hermione and Ginny were openly laughing.

An itching sensation went through Harry's burn and he reached with his hand to it. Feeling the blue salve he went for stroking his hair. Sensing the discomforted glances and the sudden stopping of laughter Harry just struggled his shoulders.

"Anyway, so the _rat_ bound us to the gravestones. You can imagine that I was very glad to see that… that… I don't even have a word for him. So, he started the ritual to bring Voldemort back. I knew what was happening when my scar started to burn, but I couldn't say a thing of course.

Anyway, moving on. Voldemort came from the cauldron, he summoned his Death Eaters, we fought, I sent Cedric back, was rescued and that's it. Oh, and I think I _died_ somewhere in the middle of it all."

Snape scowled. "Even I don't believe you if you say it like that, Potter."

"Yeah Harry," Ron said, looking at his friend in curiosity. "What are you pulling at?"

Harry looked at his best friend in wonder. For him to agree with Severus Snape was something he wouldn't do by accident. But what did they know? They weren't there that day. That horrible day…

Harry felt a chill go down his spine as he brought back the memories of that night, but he grinned nonetheless. He patted Ginny's hand absently and felt the ring beneath his hand. He looked down and smiled.

"Do you like it?" Harry asked softly. He studied the ring. The last time he had seen it, he had hidden it for the Dursley's. It was a golden ring with a red stone in it. The edges were decorated with strange symbols that Harry had yet to figure out.

"I love it," she said, smiling softly at him. "But don't think by changing the subject that we'll leave you alone."

Harry pouted. "You are just no fun at all. All right, you have me. Where was I… ah, yes. So Voldemort came back and summoned his Death Eaters. He rattled on about how he died the night my parents died and how I had survived because of my mother' protection. By taking my blood her protection was broken. He touched me, to prove it."

Harry fell silent. He could remember that touch. It had burned so badly. Ginny softly squeezed his hand and he smiled at her.

"Since I was still quite alive I could duel. But Voldemort cheats and he had me under the Cruciatus before I could even blink. When I was sure I would die, it stopped. I wanted to fight, so I got up, but I was so tired. Tired from the Maze, tired from the resurrection, tired from the fight. But I would not give up I couldn't give up. So I got up and tried to remember every curse and hex I had learned, in my classes, for the tournament.

My defenses broke after a while, but Voldemort had only used half of his powers by then. And even if Voldemort had drained all his powers he would have just captured me and taken me to 'play' at some other time. In the mean time, Cedric was forced to watch everything and tortured every time he tried something.

Voldemort was making all kinds of snide remarks about my parents and that he would attack Hogwarts and that he would destroy everyone who resisted. Then _Wormtail_ made a funny comment about me staying with my aunt and uncle. Voldemort punished him for speaking out of turn, but took up his _advice_. So he started on about my aunt and uncle, but I just laughed at him in the face.

I told him that my aunt and uncle would rather see me burn in hell then that I came back for the summer. And you know what Voldemort said? He said; 'well they have some twisted sense of humor.' And I said: 'they, humor? In what year?' And Voldemort said; 'Well lets solve their problem and then they only have to worry about me.'

That's when he set me on fire." Silence fell for the second time that evening. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts for a moment before they realized that Harry had stopped speaking.

Ginny was fighting back her tears just like Hermione. Ron had wrapped an arm around Hermione' shoulder and was baiting on his lower lip in thought. McGonagall, who had been silent since she had entered the Hospital Wing, was staring at Harry with a mixture of pity and shock. Dumbledore was staring at Harry silently. The twinkle in his eyes had gone and he had a grave expression on his face. Snape was still leaning against the wall, but his expression had been changing from sneer, to an expression Harry had never seen on the man' face before. Jack, who had heard the story before, was reading a book he had found in the library and was listening to some music.

"So he set you on fire," Hermione asked in a small voice, finally breaking the silence. Harry looked at her. Her eyes were shining with tears, reflecting the worry for her best friend.

"He first hit me with cursed flames. It's healing but it's still pretty painful. Very hard when you want to go to sleep." His friends let out a small laugh and even the professors smiled.

"I guess he liked the idea because drew a circle of flames around me. My wand had gone lost in the flames. I guess it got burned and otherwise it would have been destroyed when I left. Anyway, the flames closed in behind me. They started to eat me up alive and Cedric was still screaming and crying to me.

I wanted to be there for him, to help him get away, to make sure that he would be all right, but there was nothing I could do. But I couldn't just leave him there. So I kept talking to him and I focused all my energy on him. Suddenly I could see through the flames. I saw the cup lying only a few feet away. In a haze of worry and pain I swung my hand towards it and wished for it to take Cedric home. Screams of surprise and rage were heard throughout the graveyard, but Cedric's cries stopped. I was so relieved that I collapsed within the flames.

The last thing I heard before my heart stopped was the cry of the Phoenix."

Everyone had left except Ginny. Jack had given them some room, making the excuse to 'find the kitchen'. Ginny was resting next to Harry, leaning on his shoulder. Harry was lying with his head on her head, playing with the ring on Ginny' hand.

"So how was your summer?" Harry asked breaking the comfortable silence they had been enjoying.

Ginny gave him planted her elbow in his stomach, causing Harry to gasp for air and rubbing his stomach. "It wasn't that funny you know! You had gone and everyone was in tears. Sirius and Remus had started drinking and we all had to divide you stuff."

"Oh right," Harry said. "I guess I have to ask some of it back. But I want you to keep the ring. And I have to talk to Padfoot and Moony tomorrow. I'll ask them over for tea."

Ginny turned and kissed him. "You still haven't told us one thing Harry Potter."

He frowned. "What's that?"

"Jack told us about the Phoenix inside of you, but neither of you have told us how you got it and what it means."

Harry looked thoughtful. "The whole problem is, is that we both don't know what happened. There is a Phoenix inside of me. I know since I always have dreams about it. I think I just have to try to make contact with the Phoenix so I can maybe help it get out of me. But the only problem is that we don't know what will happen once it's gone."

They looked at each other for a few minutes both lost in their own thoughts. Then Ginny kissed him again. "It'll work out Harry, you'll see."

A/N: I hope you don't all hate me now. Tell me what you think. For your information, there are only three Death Eaters left. Draco's parents and Bellatrix. Anyway, reviewing makes me happy. And thanks for everyone who have already reviewed. Kisses and till next time.


	11. To trust or not to trust

_**Chapter 10**_

_**To Trust or not to trust, I trust you'll decide**_

Harry was making notes in a speed no one had ever seen of him. He was currently sitting in the library together with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Jack. Hermione was constantly running from bookcase to table to bookcase again. Ron was sorting all the books on the table and making homework. Ginny was also making homework. Jack was sitting next to the window reading a book on the different uses of herbs.

Harry was flipping another page of the book he was looking through. With a sigh he closed it and gave it to Ron. He grabbed another book from the pile. _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Plants._ Harry grinned. "Mr. Potter," he said with a voice that could match Snapes. "What is the use of a boazar?"

"I don't know sir, but it seems that Hermione knows the answer. Why don't you ask her?" A voice said from behind him.

Harry turned and smiled. "Didn't you take away five points for that?"

"And I had every right," Severus Snape sneered at him. "The cheek you had to your professor was unacceptable. You didn't even try to answer the questions."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, it's not as if I could have known every plant, herb and whatever by heart in a months time. Besides the _true_ art of potion making had always been lost to me. But that's why you became a Potions Master and decided to teach those _ignorant brads_ to have respect for those who _do_ know. Right?"

This time it was Severus Snape to roll his eyes. "If you want to know, I was forced to take this position. But why would I be explaining my situation to you?"

"I don't know. You tell me." But Harry continued to study the older man.

"Oh, give it up Harry! You won't win against the _mysterious_ Potions Master," Jack said from his place next to the window. "That's why he is who he is, no matter what people whisper behind his back."

"Excuse me, but I'm still in the room here," professor Snape said. The Flame Thrower amused one part of him and another part of him was annoyed with the _brad_. Who was _he_ to discuss someone he had just met? "I was, however, under the impression that you needed my help. But it seems that you would rather fill your time with mimicking and chatting."

Harry laughed. "Now, now, don't be so mean professor. I was simply bringing back old memories. I have found some herbs that we could use. Maybe by the hand of these herbs, you will be able to make a potion, or at least a recipe, that we could use." He handed the professor a single piece of parchment.

Snape lifted one eyebrow but took the parchment nonetheless. He glanced at it and laughed. "Trust you to pick out herbs at random. I'll see what I can do."

And with that he left with a swish of his cloak.

"He can be really dramatic some times," Ginny said under her breath.

………………………………………………

The Hospital was quiet. Madam Pomfrey had finished her round and was sitting in her office, reading a book on the newest medical developments. Her only patient was Harry Potter. It didn't surprise her anymore that the boy would end up in the Hospital at least once a school year. But it did worry her.

The doors of the Hospital cracked and a sudden breeze seemed to move the sheets. Poppy placed her book on her desk and sat up strait. A sound that didn't belong to the Hospital seemed to have gotten her attention.

She took the emergency-call button from the desk and walked out of the office. At the door she took her wand in the other hand and pointed it out in frond of her, into the softly lighted room.

Her eyes searched for anything wrong, but the only thing moving was her and Harry, who seemed to be entering a nightmare. She walked up to him, but the moment she reached him she knew that something was terribly wrong.

"Harry wake up," she said in a strong, but soft voice. "Wake up sweetie." She reached for him to shake him awake, but the moment she touched him she drew back her hand. It was as if the boy was on fire. His face was completely blank but there were definitely traces of tears of his cheeks.

Just as she moved away again she saw a tears fall, but the teardrop seemed to evaporate while it rolled down his cheek. Poppy Pomfrey knew what to do. She pushed the emergency-call button and ran to her storage. She grabbed a calming potion, a cooling cream and a thermopile and rushed back to her patient's bed.

She stripped Harry from his blankets and tried to push the thermopile in his mouth. When that didn't work she pushed it in his ear and swished with her wand. Wand work wasn't always relay-able so she trusted the judgment of Muggle and Wizarding methods combined. A scan appeared out of her wand and two series of body movement appeared above her patient. One was a scan from the bones and the other from the nerves.

She took the thermopile and looked at it. "45C? The boy' literally on fire!" Poppy took the cooling gel and tried to rub it on the boys face, but it just seemed to boil and disappear no matter how many layers she brought on.

"Okay, that didn't work. Idea, idea," she muttered. She spelled his clothes away desperately trying to cool the kid down. She took a glass of water and threw it in his face. Harry erupted in screams and the water hissed, boiled and evaporated. Poppy pointed her wand at the storage room, not wanting to leave the boy alone, and yelled: "Accio Icepacks!"

Several icepacks raced towards her, just as the doors of the Hospital opened. Professor Dumbledore and professor McGonagall rushed through the doors. "Where the hell were you?" Poppy shrieked in light panic. She had placed the icepacks around the boy and watched as the ice melted almost instantly.

Dumbledore was dressed for bed and McGonagall seemed to have been sleeping for at least half an hour. They looked surprised at her, but the tone in her voice and her desperate movements around Harry seemed to shake them awake. "Minerva will you get Severus. I believe that he had just finished his potion," Dumbledore said. McGonagall nodded and rushed out of the room again.

He walked towards his school nurse and laid a calming hand on her shoulder. "Poppy, calm down. We will try to get his temperature down, but first we need more scans." The school nurse looked at the headmaster with hope in her eyes. Then she nodded. "Make a scan of his muscles first."

Poppy waved her wand and a scan of the muscles appeared above the others. Nothing seemed to be wrong at the moment. The headmaster nodded. "And the organs?" The nurse waved again, first to expel the others and then again to make a scan of the organs.

"Good gods!" The heart seemed to be beating in an even faster rate than possible. The lounges were ready to explode and the eyes seemed to be burning in their sockets. Harry's heart rate was nearly 160 and his brainwaves were screaming at them for attention. But the worst thing was probably the fact that Harry was not showing any signs of pain or discomfort at all.

The doors opened once again, this time to reveal professors McGonagall and Snape, Jack and Sirius Black. The sight that greeted them seemed to shock three of the four. Only Jack remained his pace. "I heard that something was wrong with Harry, so I decided to tag along." He reached the bed, the other three following at a slower pace.

Jack looked at Harry, at the organ scan and then moved to lay his hand on Harry's forehead. But madam Pomfrey stopped him. Jack looked at her for a second and something seemed to be discussed between the two of them that the others couldn't follow. After a second she let his hand go and Jack placed in on Harry's forehead.

Her eyes widened a little when she noticed that Harry's hot skin didn't seem to bother Jack at all. But she was more shocked when Jack smiled. "He's just having a nightmare," he said, struggling with his shoulders a little in amusement.

The nurse frowned and started to protest. "What are you talking about? No one could have a nightmare like this. His heart rate is skyrocketing, his lounges are exploding and his skin is on fire! That is not a normal nightmare!"

Jack shook his head. "Harry is not normal, not anymore anyway," he added when Snape snorted. Sirius shot his an angry look. "Let me show you." He clapped in his hands and showed them a full body scan of Harry's body, but no-one had ever seen it made like that. The body was made blue and was pulsing with every breath. Where is heart was supposed to be was now a yellow figure in the shape of a sun. His head was completely red.

"This is a soul-scan. The heart is now yellow, because it is shared with something else. The head, as you see, is red. This means that it is completely taken over by something else. This 'something else' is the Phoenix that has taken over. Professor Snape, I believe you had a special calming potion with you?"

Snape rolled his eyes. "Since you asked me to bring it with me, that question would be pointless." He reached into his robes and took out a special vial. The flask was small and blue and decorated with different figures and letters. When he opened the bottle a pleasant smell of flowers and an underlying scent of something burned filled the noses of all bystanders.

When Snape moved towards Harry's bed Sirius stopped him. "You don't think I'll let you poison my godson, do you?"

Snape lifted an eyebrow. "For your information _Black_, your godson gave me permission to make this potion. I wouldn't have thought it possible, since he was always hopeless in potions, but Potter had carefully selected herbs to make it. He _trusted_ me to make it."

Sirius looked at the Potions Master for a few minutes before he slowly turned towards Harry. "If my godson decided to trust you in making his potions than I trust him to have made the right decision." With that he turned away with a sad look and walked out of the Hospital.

"We don't have the time for sentiments," Jack said, breaking the silence. "His heart-rape just went up."

Snape moved without a word. He gave the potion to the Flame Thrower and watched as Jack gave the potion to the boy. They all watched silently as the potion took effect. When Harry had calmed down again to their satisfaction and Jack had declared that he would stay in the Hospital Wing again, the professors turned back to their chambers.

A/N: I'm surprised that no one had asked for Sirius' return. Anyway, thank you all for reviewing so faithfully. You guys really give me hope in writing this story. Next one will be posted soon, I hope and then I'll put some speed into it. See you next time.


	12. Warm applepie a Sirius picnic

_**Chapter 11**_

_**Warm apple-pie**_

A cold wind from the north disturbed the leaves. The sun set them on fire as they changes colour from green to brown. The trees of the Forbidden Forest were moving silently, waking the many creatures of the forest. The Giant Squid arose to the surface of the Lake and greeted the sun.

A smell of warm apple-pie filled the air in the Great Hall. Unable to resist Sirius Black showed up at the Head Table. Many whispers followed his tracks, but the teachers greeted him cheerfully. He took a seat next to Remus and noted that Snape, Vector, Hagrid and Trelawney were absent that morning.

"Followed your nose, didn't you?" Remus said amused, while Sirius loaded his plate with at least one piece of apple-pie. "You do realise that it's still breakfast time."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I've been longing for this piece of apple-pie before you even took up the post of teaching. But I don't think that you would understand." He took a bite and instantly silenced.

Next to him professor McGonagall was talking with professor Dumbledore. "I'm just glad he's okay for now. And it seems that he has found a little bit of happiness himself. Look, they look just like James and Lily."

Sirius looked in the direction of the Gryffindor Table. There his godson was conversing with his friends. Ron and Hermione were sitting across from him and Jack was sitting on one side and Ginny on the other.

The youngest Weasley was looking a bit irritated. He could only see half her face, but Sirius guessed that she looked like her mother right now. Harry had a look of amusement and defence on his face and the rest was snickering and laughing.

Ginny placed a full plate before Harry, who took his fork and knife. "Alright, alright I'll eat." Harry started on his scrambled eggs and toast. Ginny softened her stare and started on her toast again, when she felled something pressed against her cheek.

She turned and a smiling Harry faced her. His lips were smeared with chocolate. Ron roared with laughter and Hermione giggled into her hand. Jack just stared at them with an amused look upon his face and Neville was holding his side, one hand firmly pressed against his side.

Ginny tried to rub the chocolate of her cheek, but seemed to only make it worse. "Very funny Mr. Potter," she said, half amused, half irritated.

"I know," Harry said. "I am a son of a Marauder, so get used to it." And he kissed her lightly on the lips. She looked at him with amusement and a spark of lust.

"You know that chocolate is a girl's sweet, don't you Harry?" Jack said. Harry turned towards him, but that was a grave mistake. Before he could do anything something sticky was dropped on the top of his head.

He turned towards Ginny again. She was just placing the syrup pot back on the table and smiled innocently at him. "Oh, now you'll have it. This, Ginny Weasley, means war." But just as he reached for the cheesecake, Albus Dumbledore spoke.

"As much as we enjoy food it is not prepared for war purposes," Albus Dumbledore said in an amused voice and a twinkle in his eye. Harry and Ginny faced him with each an innocent look upon their faces. "Mr. Potter, Miss Weasley will you please clean up mess you have created and return to your Dormitories or finish breakfast. I know it's Saturday, but you are still in our care."

Harry smiled widely. "We're very sorry headmaster. It won't happen again." He waved at Remus and Sirius. Remus returned his wave, but Sirius just stared at him before he turned his attention to his plate again. Harry frowned, but shook his head and drew his wand.

"Let me fair lady," and he waved his wand. "_Evanesco_." Chocolate vanished from Ginny's lips and cheek. And with another _"Evanesco"_ chocolate vanished from Harry's lips and syrup from his hair.

…………………………………

Sirius had been acting weird ever since Harry had gotten out of the Hospital that Saturday morning. It seemed as if he was avoiding Harry and that was odd, because when he had returned to Hogwarts Sirius had been al over him. It just didn't seem like Sirius to be so quiet and withdrawn. When noon approached he couldn't take it anymore and asked his friends if they knew something.

"Sorry mate," Ron said. "But I know even less then you do. I haven't talked to Sirius since last Wednesday when we visited you in the Hospital."

Hermione looked up from where she was writing her essay. "If it bothers you so much Harry then why don't you go to him and ask?"

Harry sighted. "I did that already, but it seems like he is avoiding me. I don't mind the peace a little. I mean he's been visiting me ever since he came to Hogwarts. But I'm just worried about the way he's acting. This morning he looked away when I greeted him. He didn't even smile and that's just not like him."

Ginny took one of his hands and squeezed it. "Maybe he's just distracted. If he doesn't want to talk to you, then go to Lupin. I'm sure he knows what's going on."

Harry smiled at her. "You're right. Watch Jack for me, will you? I've for a dog to track down."

"Hey, what do you mean 'watch Jack'? I'm… oh, never mind," Jack said, for Harry had already left Gryffindor Tower.

…………………………………………

Harry came at a halt in frond of Lupin's office. Sometimes he still wondered why Lupin had come back, but he shook his head and knocked. He would ask another time. Harry heard movement inside the room and the door opened.

"Ah Harry! To what do I own this pleasure?" Remus said with a smile on his face. He had still a few wrinkles under his eyes and he was favouring his left leg, but the scars had healed nicely.

"Hey Moony, can I come in for a sec? I want to ask you something."

"Sure, some in." And Remus made room for him. "You know you're always welcome at my rooms." Remus closed the door behind Harry and took a seat on one of the armchairs by the fire. The fire was warm and whispering friendly.

Harry ignored its call and took a seat in the other armchair. "I know Remus and I thank you for it. I just wanted to ask you something."

"Anything," Remus said and he swished him wand. Two cups of tea landed before them and Harry smiled his thanks.

"I was wondering if you knew if anything was wrong with Sirius? He seemed distracted this morning and I haven't seen him since yesterday when he left for the night. Seeming as he sleeps next to you and sits next to you and all, I thought that maybe you knew what was wrong."

Remus smiled and took his cup. "Sirius seems to think that you have done something wrong. I haven't asked him yet, because he's usually very sensitive about the subject. I remember that James once used his clock for an experiment without asking and broke it. Sirius said it didn't matter and we dropped it, but he wouldn't talk to James for weeks. Then one night James became so frustrated that he asked Sirius what was wrong. So with a lot of persuasion Sirius told us that the clock had meant a lot to him."

Harry nodded. "I see. Sirius likes to keep things for himself. But how do I get out of him what is wrong?"

Silence fell over both of them. Harry stared into the flames silently stirring in tea. Remus was staring at the table, absently blowing his tea. The clock ticked silently and a group of students passed by.

"What if we trick him into going outside? But what to trick him with? We could ask the house-elves to make some apple-pie. I could lure Sirius to the lake where you would be waiting with it and he won't get any till he's told us everything."

Harry looked at Lupin with amusement clearly shown on his face. "He would fall for that?"

Lupin nodded. "Sirius would do anything for school made apple-pie."

"Then we have a plan."

……………………………………………

Harry was looking over the lake. The apple-pie that was placed next to him was still warm and the smell was making him hungry. He just hoped that the plan would work. He watched as the sun reached its highest point. Big waves arose from the middle of the lake and reached the shore.

When he heard voices he looked up. Remus and Sirius were walking to where he was sitting. Clearly they were arguing about something, but Remus laughed and so Harry relaxed. When they reached the tree Sirius saw Harry and he halted.

Harry saw how the last Black started to turn around and he swished with his wand. _"Petrificus Totalus."_ Sirius stiffened and fell to the ground.

"Harry," Remus said, but Harry cut him off. He walked towards Sirius and turned him around.

"You are going to listen to me Sirius Black. I have the feeling that you're avoiding me and I want to know why. To make you talk I have here some freshly baked apple-pie. You may think 'why should I care for I could just do to the kitchens and ask for another one', but we told the house elves to not give you any before you told us what's bothering you."

He lifted the curse. Sirius sat up and turned his back to Harry. "I don't talk to a traitor," was all he said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Harry asked looking surprised. He had expected anything but not this.

"You trusted Snape to make your potions. How could you Harry? How could you trust that two-faced snake to make your potions?"

"He makes mine," Lupin said, half amused and half shocked.

Sirius started to sputter. "Its… that's… that is different."

"How is it different? Snape makes a potion for Remus to fight the wolf inside of him and he makes a potion for me against the Phoenix inside of me. Tell me Sirius, how is that different?"

Sirius turned towards Harry, shock clearly written on his face. "I didn't… I mean… I'm…"

Harry shook his head. "You shouldn't judge people by their appearance and stop using their past against them."

A blush of shame appeared on Sirius' face. "I'm sorry Harry, it's just that I thought that you trusted Snape more then me. I should have trusted you more.

Now that that's settled, where is that apple-pie?"

Harry laughed. "You can be very strange sometimes Sirius!"

A/N: How fast was that eh?


	13. An almost perfect plan

_**Chapter 12**_

_**An almost perfect plan**_

Harry Potter woke up in the familiar four-poster bed in Gryffindor Tower. He had returned there almost a month ago now and he was glad he was back. The familiar surroundings seemed to ease his mind a lot and as a result he hadn't burned anything in at least two weeks.

The cold, stone floors gave his warm feet a pleasant sensation. He grabbed his glasses and hurried into the bathroom before the other boys woke up.

It was strange that he still awoke so early since he didn't attend to the classes this year. He was so busy making plans for Voldemort's demise that he was given an excuse to not follow his lessons with the other students. Sure he followed school, but then in hours when he got stuck with something.

Harry looked in the mirror. He had changed a lot over the summer. He had grown in length somewhat, but he had developed more muscles then height. The burn that had graced his features since his escape for Voldemort was almost completely gone. His eyes were shining more brightly then before he returned to Hogwarts. The flame inside him had died a little, but his actions hadn't slowed or anything.

His body was still showing many scars, old burns mostly, but Harry felt that they were more apart of his body. The blackness had started to disappear and that was one thing he was grateful of.

After a short shower he dressed himself in his everyday clothes, black shirt and black pants, and decided to grace the people with his company. The boys were slowly waking, Neville was already waiting to take a shower, and they all greeted him with sleepy faces and yawning smiles.

Harry walked down the steps and greeted Hermione, Levender and Parvati, who seemed to have woken up at least half an hour earlier then the boys. It was sort of a tradition to wait for each other and then do down as a group, but the girls seemed to be impatient this morning.

It was then, when Harry wanted to ask what was wrong, when he noticed Ginny sleeping in one of the armchairs by the fire. He frowned and walked towards her. Her face completely relaxed, but something in the way that she sat there told him that something was troubling her.

He kneeled before her and stroked her hair. Ginny responded to the touch, moving her head in the direction of his hand. He smiled softly and shook her awake. "Ginny, wake up. You have to go to class soon."

Her mouth moved in a silent reflex and she moved closer towards him. Harry smiled again and he brought his body towards hers. With great difficulty, trying not to wake her, he picked her up in his arms from the chair. She shifted a little closer to him and Harry planted a soft kiss on her forehead.

Harry turned towards the other girls, who had watched him with smiles on their faces. Harry rolled his eyes to them, but smiled non-the-less. "Hermione, can you give me entrance to the girls dormitories so I can put Ginny to rest?"

Her smile got wider. "I can try but I'm not sure if the stairs will let you."

Harry nodded and shifted Ginny a little. Although he loved holding her, she wasn't the lightest person to hold forever. "I'll talk to it." He walked to the stairs that let to the girls dormitories and spoke: "I have here Ginny Weasley, a residence of your halls. Will you accept me to bring her up to her bed to rest? I'll take Hermione Granger with me, so she can make sure I do not do any harm to your girls."

It was silent for a while before the stairs seemed to think him trustworthy and crack in agreement to let him past. Harry signalled to Hermione to lead the way. "Thank you," he said to the staircase and he followed his best friend up.

Harry had always imagined that the girls dormitories were always much more 'girly', but it actually looked quite the same. Of course instead of soccer and Quidditch poster it had mostly the Harpies and the Weird Sisters. Harry even thought he saw an occasional half naked guy on the wall, but he wasn't there to stop and stare at their posters.

Ginny had four other room… well you can't really call them 'mates' now can you? So she had four other girls to share her room with. One of them was in the bathroom, which had opened for a second, before it was slammed shut when Harry had entered.

"Which one is Ginny's?" Harry asked calmly looking from one to the other.

"It's this one," a girl with brown curly hair said. Her blue eyes were shining with affection and she seemed to want to say the word 'cute' every once in awhile.

Harry smiled his thanks and laid Ginny on the first bed on the right, closest to the door. He waved his wand to clean her and tucked her into the bed. He placed a kiss on her cheek, which earned him a few 'aw's. The girl who had shown Harry the right bed even whispered: "That's so cute", to the other girls.

…………………………………………

Harry, once again, found himself in the library, surrounded by notes and books. Though, this time, only Jack was there to hold him company. The notes were sorted into different categories: animals, object, herbs and locations. On some of them most of the words were already scratched off the list.

"You know," Jack commented lightly, throwing another useless book on the table. "You could just make a crack in time and space and throw him in there."

"That would require a time lord, _captain_," Harry said throwing Jack an irritated glance. "And I'm sorry to report this to you, but time lords are very much out of reach for us. By the way," he added, taking another thing out off one of the lists. "This is a wizarding war, not a _time and space_ war. I'd rather take care of Voldemort myself then having someone else clean up _our _mess."

Jack snorted but struggled his shoulders. "Must be a human thing like eavesdropping."

Harry flickered his wand. A yelp was heard from behind one of the shelves and a startled Draco Malfoy jump from behind it. "Ah," Harry said smiling cruelly. "I wondered when he would show up. Was this your own choice Malfoy or was this an order of your father?"

"You still haven't caught Lucius Malfoy?" Jack said in mocked astonishment. He was on his two feet faster then anyone could blink and walked over too Draco, who was now standing next to the bookshelf with a frozen look upon his face.

Harry rolled his eyes. "That guy is better in hiding in the darkness he has created then his master. But then again, maybe his hiding will give us a few advantages." Harry had remained his seating position and studied his young enemy for a while.

"It doesn't matter what you are planning," Draco said in a voice that was meant to be threatening, but it came out a bit broken. "The Dark Lord will prevail!"

Harry raised an eyebrow in amusement and Jack frowned in disappointment. "Tell me _Draco_," Harry said and Draco seemed to frown when Harry said his name. "How many times were you interested in my friend when I was gone? How many times did you flinch in this entire time when you heard Voldemort's name?"

Draco shot him a glare. "Why would I be interested in your _friends_?" But he didn't seem to dare say anything about the second question.

Harry didn't know what fifth year Slytherin was thinking, but he could see in those cold eyes that he was thinking hard to come up with a defence. Harry ignored his question. "Do you even know where your father is? Is he at home, with your mother? Or had he fled, like a good old little Slytherin?"

"Don't you dare talk about my father Potter," Draco said his old fury returning and he struggled against the frozen bonds.

"Then don't interfere with our plans," was all Harry said. He released the bonds and went back to work.

Draco hesitated for a minute, but when Jack and Harry ignored him, he stalked out of the library.

……………………………………

"Remember Voldemort's weakness?" Harry said to Jack. The evening had fallen and the library was closing in an hour's time. They had asked for a wastebasket to drop in every useless paper they had. They had six notes left and three books were opened at different pages.

Jack raised his head from where he had rested it on his arms and stared at Harry with glassy eyes. "What chocolate mints?"

Harry laughed. "No you fool," he said and he grabbed one of the useless pieces of paper, made a ball out of it and threw it at Jack. The ball of paper was relatively harmless, but Jack treated the spot where it had hit like a head wound.

"I meant… oh, never mind. Since you are not listening I think I'll find a better audience for my information and leave you out of it completely."

"No, no, no," Jack said hastily. He sat up strait, his hands neatly folded and his arms resting on the table in frond of him, like a schoolboy on the first school day. He looked at Harry with open curiosity on his face, as if trying to decide if the information was worth listening too. "Professor Harry, forgive me for my unintelligence. Please, share with me your discoveries."

"Okay student Jack, I shale tell you. Voldemort's weakness is his power, his inability to trust and to care for those around him. Even his Death Eaters, who speak so highly of him and boast about being in his inner circle, are nowhere near his trust level as they should want."

Jack frowned in worry. "You haven't opened the link again, have you?" he asked with great worry in his voice.

Harry quickly shook his head. "No, I haven't. But from my conversations with Dumbledore and my own sense of mind I think I know how he works. You see, when he was an orphan, well he still is, he always looked after himself. He was rejected because he was different.

When he came to Hogwarts he had found his equals, but he still didn't trust others. It's all to do with the fact that he was always alone. As he child, he had no friends, no brothers or sisters to rely on or play with. The way the others acted towards him angered him. An anger that only grew as he became older. He started manipulating people in doing everything he wanted, because he had the power to do that.

But in his anger he made one mistake. That if you manipulate everyone around you, you will never truly be a ruler. If you take away things that your servants love, then they will turn against you and seek to destroy you."

"Your talking about Snape there, weren't you?" Jack said. He had relaxed himself back in his chair again, absently flipping the pages of one of the books that were lying before him.

Harry nodded. "And that is our advantage. We have Severus Snape, but we could have Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy as well. If I were correct then they would do anything for their son. We will give then a note explaining what we want them to do and give them the choice to do that."

"But what will we have them do?"

"That we still have to work out. We might not even need them if we can perfect the plan.

Now, what is the opposite of a Phoenix?"

"Something with ice and feathers I'm sure. Let me think… an Icebird?"

"I just know you meant that sarcastically Jack, but you're right. The answer was an Icebird. Next question, what sort of object would you use to correct a mistake?"

"I would say an eraser, but I guess that would be to simple." Jack scratched his head in thought. "You could use a backspace button, but we don't have a computer and electricity doesn't seemed to work here. But you said 'correct' so it could mean a red pen or a blank sticker for all I care."

He scratched his neck and taped with his fingertips on his mouth. "Maybe it's the right answer, but that isn't an object, is it? So it must be an erasing potion. Is that an object?"

Harry smiled. "Well, it would eventually become an object, so you're right. It was an erasing potion. Now the herbs aren't that important, because we both can't make a potion even if our lives depended on it. And no, powders and potions aren't the same. But I still need you to get Aconitum."

"Monk's hood? Are you sure?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, I need it powdered in a special flask."

Jack nodded his understanding. "I'll do my best. It won't be easy to find it fresh, but I'm sure professor Snape is willing to share with me some of its locations here."

"Location, location, location," Harry muttered and he smiled. "I think we can find a remote area somewhere."

A/N: I thought that I would write faster since it's vacation here in Holland, but I was wrong. I first locked myself outside, and then I crammed by day so full that I spent only thirty minutes behind the computer and now it's nearly midnight… But I don't want to make excuses for not writing. I have been busy and I hope you can understand that. Love you all. R&R (winks)


	14. Conversations and confrontations

_**Chapter 13**_

_**Conv**__**ersations and Confrontations**_

"Mr. Potter!"

Harry turned and saw Snape walking towards him. He smiled and inclined his head. "Professor Snape."

As he walked towards Harry, Severus looked for an empty place to speak privately. He moved his head towards an empty classroom and entered it. Harry followed within a heartbeat.

"Harry."

"Severus. I believe you have some information for me." Harry took a seat upon an empty desk and Severus raised his wand. He produced several silencing and privacy charms and took a seat in one of the empty chairs.

"The Erasing Potion and the Fear Fever Potion are both ready for use. Have you had any word from Jack yet?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm afraid not, but I'm expecting him any minute. Thanks for the potions. I think I'll take two flasks of each with me, incase I miss."

Snape raised one eyebrow. "Very funny mister Potter. Those potions took me forever to make so I hope, for your sake, that you don't miss." And with that he cancelled the spells and walked away.

…………………………………

The darkness was coming in fast, telling everyone that winter was approaching. Harry was walking around the lake, waiting for Jack to return to Hogwarts so they could start their plans. He looked up when he heard someone walking towards him. A dark figure walked towards him, slowly getting more visible as the figure moved closer.

"Harry?" Ginny was standing right before him. She had removed her school uniform and was wearing an old shirt of the Harpies and jeans. Her coat was hanging around her and her red hair was tight in a ponytail.

Harry smiled. "Hey Gin, is everything alright?" He took her hand and pulled her a bit closer.

"I was just wondering… your leaving soon aren't you?"

Harry was silent and stared into her eyes. She seemed to want to look into his head as her eyes searched his. "Yes," he said in a whisper. "I am leaving soon."

There was a long silence after that, each searching for a hint in the others eyes. But the minutes seemed to pass by as the wind that blew around them. Without warning they moved closer and brought their mouth together. The kiss started soft but became more and more passionate by the minute.

Harry moved his hands towards Ginny's hairs, while hers were wrapped around his waist. Their body's touched every few second, moving in the rhythm of their kiss. And when they broke apart they were both out of breath but smiling like mad.

But before either of them could say anything at all, a voice called out to them. "Potter, no snogging in public!"

They both turned to the direction of the voice. Jack was standing a few feet away from them, almost invisible by in the darkness that surrounded him. Ginny and Harry were grinning at him and he rolled his eyes. "Lets get inside before either of us catches pneumonia."

They entered the school in silence. Dinner had just ended, but Jack was hungry from his trip so they decided to visit Dobby. After a good meal and some light talk, they decided that it was time for actions.

"Let's go to Dumbledore. He needs to know where we'll be going and maybe he can round up a few people for backup," Harry said as they exited the kitchens.

"Do you think that's wise? He may want to interfere," Jack said as they mounted the first steps.

Harry nodded and Ginny said: "Of course we should let Dumbledore know where you two are going. He's a master in magic, he could be of some use."

"Gin, Dumbledore may be a great man for the light side but he is a master in manipulation. Letting him know where we are going is one thing, but letting him in on the whole plan would be a grave mistake."

Ginny stared at him, disbelieve clearly shown in her eyes. "I thought you believed in Dumbledore. How can you be so cruel to him?"

"You'll see," was the only thing Harry said to her as they entered the hallway to Dumbledore's office. As the three of them stood before the Gargoyle they came to the conclusion that none of them had the password.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Jack half yelled. "I thought you at least knew the password."

Harry looked at him blackly as if he had expected the same. "Well, it won't be that hard. We just have to name every sweet we know."

So they settled for saying a sweet in turns. What they hadn't expected was that it would be a sweet only Jack knew.

"Honey-balloon is a funny sort of honey ball that seems to explode every once in awhile in you mouth," he explained.

Harry knocked and through the door came a muffled 'open'. They entered with grace and smiled their most charming smiles at Dumbledore, except Ginny who was grinning nervously.

"Ah, you have come to tell me that you are leaving?" Once again, Dumbledore seemed to be completely aware of the situation.

"We have and we might need assistance," Harry said in a business like tone, but still standing in a child-like stance. "Professor Snape was so kind to assist me in making the potions but it would be unwise to ask him to come along in this mission. That's why we ask for Remus and Sirius who are both experienced in the field."

Dumbledore nodded. "You have my permission, but I'm afraid that their judgement will be clouded for your safety. Minerva will be glad to assist you and maybe a few Aurors."

Jack shook his head and Harry said: "I'm sorry professor but I've already discussed this with Sirius and Remus and they are willing to help me."

Dumbledore seemed to be taken aback by this, but he recovered quickly and smiled. "I think I can find a replacement for our Dark Arts Teacher and our Medical Art Teacher. Still if there is anything I can do…?" His voice was holding an underlying longing of wanting to help.

Harry smiled. "You are needed here in the school professor. We appreciate it, but we do not want Hogwarts under attack may we lose." Sure he had his doubts in the headmaster, but when it came to protecting the school Dumbledore was the best choice.

Dumbledore nodded. "I understand my boy. When you need anything, just call for Fawkes. I'm sure he'll hear you."

Jack walked towards him and reached out his hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you professor. I hope we'll meet again some day."

Dumbledore smiled and shook the hand. "It was a pleasure meeting you too Jack. And good luck to the four of you. We'll be awaiting your return."

……………………………………

Harry, Jack, Sirius and Remus were standing in the shadows of a great oak. It was the only one on the field, but it was all they needed for the night. The moon was casting a pale light on the grass that seemed to move in the cold wind. Sirius blew his hand warm and rubbed them together.

"How long are we going to stand here and do nothing?" he whispered, but his voice carried far in the open field though there was no one besides his companions to hear him.

Harry chuckled. "We can always run all the way to the other side on the field and do our preparations there."

"Ha, ha, ha," Sirius replayed sarcastically. "I can't even see the other side of the field. This is probably the only tree in this area."

"I'm so proud of you Sirius," Remus said in a fake proud voice. "Had you noticed that all on your own?"

"Shut it Moony or people will get hurt," Sirius growled.

Harry and Jack laughed. "When you two have finished arguing," Harry said after he had calmed down a little. "Let's get to work."

And so they started on their plan to bring Voldemort down. Or bring them down.

A/N: You are all welcome to kill me. I have been so out of it. I know the plan and I know what I want to write, but I can't seem to be able to put in on paper. But the vacation is over, so I have enough time to think things over and my English professor doesn't mind. ('.') But I have three more chapter to go and then it's finished so be warned.


	15. Releasing of the Soul

_**Chapter 14**_

_**Releasing the Soul**_

The sun was dawning on the damp field. You would think that it was a normal field, but when one looked closely he or she could see cords spun low on the ground. These cords formed a square about 4 by 4 meters. The cord glistered in the sunlight.

"Finished," Sirius said, stretching his back and yawning. They had worked all night trying to secure their trap and going over the plan again, and again, and again.

"Maybe we should wake them," Remus said. He looked at Harry and Jack, who were both resting against the tree. At that moment Remus was struck at how young Harry was. The worry and pain on his face had disappeared and his green eyes that reflected his fear were invisible by the closed lids.

"Let them have a few more minutes. Jack needs his rest and gods knows Harry does too. Let's eat something and rest too. We will need it when _he_ comes."

When Sirius walked towards the tree to the backpack they had brought, Harry changed. His face turned from peaceful into painful in a heartbeat. He started sweating and he squeezed his eyes shut. His mouth moved and soft moans escaped his lips.

Before either could approach Harry, his eyes flew open and his hand flew to his scar. Jack woke up as a weight was lifted from him and he saw that Harry was sitting upright, breathing hard and clutching his head.

"What is it?" the three of them asked at once.

Harry looked at them one by one. "Voldemort has killed Lucius Malfoy. He's coming!"

"What?" Sirius cried.

"He killed Malfoy?" Remus asked.

"I thought you told me you had closed the connection!" Jack said.

Harry shook of the questions and remarks and moved towards the backpack. He grabbed to bottles. As his hands found the glass a '_crack_' was heard through the air. Startled birds flew up in the air and before any of his companions could react, Harry rushed to the square. The cords were glowing and sprung to life as both Harry and Voldemort entered the square of cords. Harry, not worried about Voldemort for the minute, turned and gestured with his hands.

"What are you doing Harry," Sirius cried, his face reflecting his worry and fear.

"Come back Harry," Remus said. "It's far too dangerous. We had a plan!"

Jack just smiled. There had been a time where he would have yelled too and he was afraid for his young friend, but he knew what Harry had planned. "Good luck," he whispered.

Harry grinned, for there was one thing his friend didn't know. "See you later," was all he said with a grin and then he concentrated like hell on teleporting them.

With a flash then worried and confused faces of his friends disappeared.

"What is this Potter?" Voldemort hissed, for the first time speaking. His voice still sounded the same, but he seemed less frightening without the shadows and fire reflecting his darker side.

"This, monsieur, is a trap." Harry calmly replayed. "You see, I've become quite tired of the fact that everyone seems to be invading my body. So this is to release both you and the Phoenix from my body."

"Let me help you with that," Voldemort said and he raised his wand. "_Avada Kadavra_." But nothing happened. No flash of green light, not even a spark. Voldemort hissed.

"_What have you done_?" he hissed, falling into parsletongue.

Harry laughed. "I thought you were great Dark Lord. But it seems you have never mastered something like hand magic or muggle tricks."

"And why would you fall to _muggle_ tricks?" Voldemort hissed, this time in normal English. "You seem to hate your aunt and uncle too. Why not join me?"

"Because you don't rely on anyone but yourself. Even when you are surrounded by Death Eaters you still speak of them as your servants. You let them do all the killing and torturing. Except when it came to me and my parents and a few other key people that you thought were not worth screwing up.

I may hate my aunt and uncle because they had never been there for me, locking me up and starving me from time to time, but I will never think about killing them. I won't be the one who judges about death or life.

You see Tom; you could have been different if you had opened your heart a little. But you wouldn't even dare to love, would you?"

Voldemort laughed. "It's all down to love again isn't it? Have you been poisoned too by Dumbledore on his lies about love and forgiveness?"

Harry smirked and Voldemorts grin faded. "Dumbledore is wise, but he forgets that there are things that no-one can change. He forgets that some things are better to be left alone and that others will turn out alright in the end, even if he doesn't involve himself into them. But everybody has his or her faults. That's what makes us human."

Voldemort' eyes shot fire and Harry felt the Phoenix raising to the bait. Just a few more minutes and then he would be healed. At that moment something was thrown towards him. In a reflex he stepped to the left and looked at the fallen object. It was a stone.

Harry looked up at Voldemort with raised eyebrows. "On to muggle tactics are we?"

"I'm still part muggle you know," was all he said and he threw another stone. It missed Harry by a hair.

"Good throw," Harry commented, as he dodged another stone.

"Thanks," Voldemort said, picking up another one. "I was a Chaser in my year."

…………………………………………

(Hogwarts)

The Great Hall received another shock in three months as three grown men landed in it. Sirius, Remus and jack stumbled and looked around. "Son-of-a-bitch!" Jack cried in the middle of the Hall as he realised where he was.

"Jack, there are children here," Dumbledore said from behind him. A few seconds silence followed before he commented: "Where is Harry?"

This time Sirius started swearing. "Why?" he yelled. "He fucking knew, he knew. I could see it in his eyes. When he gets back, I'll kill him." But he came no further then that as Dumbledore caste a silencing charm of him.

"As I told Jack, there are children here. Now Remus will you please tell me what's going on?"

Remus shook himself awake as all attention was vested on him. "Could we please take this somewhere else professor? As you mentioned before, we are surrounded by children."

Dumbledore nodded and gestured towards the side door. But just as they all entered the side door, a voice called out to them.

"Why are you here?" Ginny called out to the three men that disappeared through the side door. If she had arrived, with Ron and Hermione, a few minutes later she would have missed them.

"Yeah," Ron said, as he to noticed Sirius, Remus and Jack. "I thought you would be with Harry."

The three men looked at each other in wonder and seemed to silently communicate with each other as if trying to decide what to tell them.

Dumbledore appeared around the corner to see what kept them waiting and spotted the three students. He sighted. "Ms. Weasley, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, follow us please," he said lightly and disappeared into the room again.

The three students looked at each other, but hurried into the room. If anything had happened to their friend, then they wanted to know.

…………………………………………

(Field somewhere in Scotland)

Harry seemed to be getting irritated. He didn't mind the 'practice', but he couldn't keep it up forever. Voldemort, on the other hand, seemed to be getting better. He had hit Harry with a stone at least twice and it had hurt. On the other hand, Harry hadn't done anything but dodging for the last twenty minutes.

"That's it," he muttered and he clapped in his hands. The cords sprung to life and closed in on them. With amazing speed he grabbed one of the potions and flings it at Voldemort.

Tom, of course, hadn't seen it coming and the bottle smashed into his face. The glass broke and its contents spread over his face. The potion was thick and a few drops fell to the ground. Where the potion hit the ground little screams seemed to irrupt and black smoke arose.

Voldemort grabbed his face and tried to scream. But it only caused to let the potion enter his mouth and stick on his hands. The drab seemed to spread all over Voldemorts body.

"Memo to me, never get on Sev' wrong side ever again. That Fear Fever Potion is the most horrible potion I've ever seen." Harry shuddered and looked around. "And for the final act." He levitated the other potion and walked up to Voldemort. The cords reached them and pressed them together. As his hands were still free he clapped them once and the bottle above their heads broke, its contents spilled over them. With a calm and reassured voice Harry began the chant he had been practicing so long.

"_Fragaria Vesca,  
_Will you grand me one soul,  
Undamaged and cleaned of all evil.

_Galium Aparine,  
_Give him a chance to start anew,  
No memories, no past.

_Primula,  
_Remove our bonds,  
Release our souls.

_Salvia,  
_From the Ashes we will arise,  
Both renewed and whole.

_Tussilago Farfara,  
_Scars of the past will fade,  
Our destinies for ours to decide.

_Verbascum Thapsus,  
_Bonded by love and trust,  
One sky, one world."

……………………………………

(Hogwarts)

A bright light startled them all. Some screamed, some started to run for safety, while others just stood there and stared at the light. No-one knew what it was and no-one knew what was going to happen next. The teachers in the castle tried to calm everyone and rushed them inside. When everyone was inside some teachers lingered. What was going to happen was anybodies guess.

When Severus Snape screamed in pain and agony, everybody turned in fright. What was happening?

A/N: HA! What do you think about that? The words I used in the chant are herbs and plants, so they are no magical words.


	16. A new life in the making

Chapter 15 

_**A New Life In The Making**_

Light as air, the being floated through time and space. Unable to identify itself or anything in its surroundings the being seemed to be unworried of where it was going. Unable to feel its warmth it floated passed the sun. It looked at the planet in a mild form of fascination and admiration.

It flew on to the next planets that would cross its path. A watery planet before it. The being stared at its reflection in the planet's surface. It realised that it had no body, but it seemed to have a future form.

It realised that it was a spirit. A cry came from within the universe. Something seemed to be calling out to it. The spirit felt a desire to go to the cry and so it continued its journey across the universe.

It passed another planet and hovered there for a while. But it seemed that the cry had called from another planet. Still it stayed to look with fascination at how the planet seemed to move. The planet was quite feminine and kept it under its spell. But the cry sounded once again and so the spirit moved on.

It came to a strange planet that looked completely different from the other three it had seen. The planet seemed to be glowing with warmth and energy. A shield covered the planet but the spirit easily passed through it.

The cry was sounding much stronger now that it had found the right planet. The spirit landed on top of the planet. White stuff was covering its surface. Something blew white little flocks everywhere, but since it couldn't feel anything, cold water did nothing to it. A white beast arose suddenly from its hiding place. It sniffed at the spirit and stared into its eyes. Finally it whined and shook its head. It turned and threw itself in the water.

The spirit stared as the white beast swam away from him and decided to find what it was looking for, elsewhere. So it floated through the sky and was accompanied with white and brown creatures. These creatures looked nothing like the one it had seen before. They had wings and feathers and seemed to ride the wind. Part of the being found it all amazing and strange and another part seemed strangely calm and accepted it all.

The spirit focused itself downwards. The water reflected its existence, but there were creatures in the water too. This seemed to confuse it a little. How could anything live it there? But then again, it had lived out in space.

The spirit focused its being forwards. It reached land again, but this time it seemed different. There were no white little crystals. Only huge rocks that seemed to reach the skies. Greens and browns covered its grounds and sometimes there were even long grey stripes visible from where it flew.

The further the spirit flew, the more grey boxes appeared and smoke arose. The spirit felt confusion running through its being as it saw more and more of the same creatures appear everywhere. These creatures walked on two legs and seemed to be carrying their souls along with them, instead of carrying it within them.

Some seemed to glow, others seemed to leak and others were humming with power. They moved themselves in metal boxes and seemed to rush everywhere. The little creatures seemed to stop and stare every once in awhile, but the bigger ones pushed them forward or pushed them away. The cities were filled with different smells.

When the spirit flew once again over the water, it noticed that its shape had changed. It seemed to have taken the shape of the creatures it had seen last time. It was still transparent, but it could see the form of its new body.

……………………………………………………

After a much longer time, it reached land once more. The cry had sounded once again to tell him that he was getting closer. After studying its body closely, the spirit had decided that it would be a boy indeed.

When he reached land the spirit changed directions. It was no longer surprised to see the tall creatures that seemed to walk this planet. Even on the big water it had seen the creatures on metal object. They were taking the sea creatures out of their homes or simply crossing the water to journey to the other side.

When the biggest metal object had come rushing towards him in the air, the spirit had ducked in fright. How the creatures had build such a thing was beyond him, but they seemed to be using it for travel like they had done with the other metal things on the water.

The cry became louder and louder and the spirit knew that he was reaching its goal. The spirit looked at its surroundings carefully, knowing that it would probably never see it again like he could see it now when it reached its destination.

When a white light entered his vision the spirit knew it had reached its goal. The sight that greeted him, however, was different then it had thought it would be. The light was very big and had a golden lining that seemed to attract other too. A young man and a baby where lying in the middle of it all.

When the spirit entered the light, a soul contacted his being. "Have you come?" it asked.

"Yes," the spirit answered staring into the bright light. "I have come."

"And do you accept?"

"Yes," the spirit said once again. "I accept."

"What is your name?"

"My name is what my caretakers decide."

The soul hummed in acceptance. "What was your name?"

"Tom Marvolo Riddle."

The light exploded and the soul absorbed the spirit. The light entered the baby and the child came alive, crying.

A/N: I know it's short but I guess you all understand what happened. Hate it, love it, accept it. R&R.


	17. The beginning

_**Chapter 16**_

_**The Beginning**_

Hogwarts was silent. It was as if everyone was waiting for the worst to happen. A few teachers and students were standing outside, staring at the heavens for any sign of trouble. Others were sitting restlessly in the Great Hall or running from dorm to Hall.

Ginny, Ron and Hermione were amongst the once that were standing outside. Ginny was crying silently. Ron had wrapt an arm around Hermione's shoulders in comfort. Hermione had rested her head on his shoulder and was wiping her tears away every once in a while.

Jack walked up to them from behind and placed a comforting hand on Ginny's shoulder. She turned to him and fell into his arms, needing the comfort and understanding. Remus and Sirius were silently whispering to each other, each with a worried expression.

Unable to resist his curiosity, Severus Snape joined the other teachers in their silent watch outside. When someone would have told him what he was feeling now the first time he met Harry Potter, he would have declared them insane.

In the last half year he had gotten to know Harry Potter better and what he saw had shocked him. Harry may have his father's looks, but on the inside Harry was so much more like his mother. Severus now looked at the boy in faith and admiration, although he would never admit it.

Unaware of what he was doing, he scratched his arm. After the pain the mark had faded. But he wasn't jet sure if it was a good sign or a bad one.

Fang broke the silence. Everyone looked up as they heard the dog bark at the trees of the Forbidden Forest. Hagrid tried to calm him down, but a noise from within the Forest brought the gamekeeper to silence.

Everyone had turned their attention to the forest and the students and teachers that had stayed in the castle came outside when they heard the noise. There was a rustling of wings and suddenly every owl from the owlery flew above their heads. Toads, cats and rats came out of the castle and the house elves and ghosts from the castle appeared on the field as well.

Before anyone could wonder about what was happening, a strange singing came from the forest and animals appeared on the border of the Forest. Some of the younger students whispered amongst each other as they laid their eyes on the unicorns, hippogriffs and centaurs of the forest.

In answer to the singing from the forest, Fawkes the Phoenix flew out of the open doors. He too started singing as another Phoenix greeted him. This phoenix was a little bit different then Fawkes because it had green and black strips amongst his feathers, but apart from that the phoenix was much the same.

They greeted each other and flew together to the edge of the forest. Seconds later a dark figure appeared. He was dressed in dark robes and was holding a bundle of blankets in his arms. The figure was walking with great confidence between the animals and they all parted for him. Some of the bystanders even thought they could see the animals bow their heads to the stranger.

When the light of the setting sun lighted up his face, the stranger was instantly recognized.

Harry Potter looked up from where he had been staring at the baby that was trusted in his care. He looked around. The whole school seemed to be standing outside and he grinned at them with ease. "Hello everyone."

A stunned silence followed his words and the animals behind and next to him returned to their homes. Then a few people broke away from the crowd. Ginny Weasley was the first to reach him and she hugged him with all his might.

"Um, Ginny," Harry said with a small grin on his face. "Watch the baby. I know it's asleep but we want to keep it alive."

Ginny blushed and stepped away from him. "Sorry Harry. I didn't mean to hurt it."

Harry smiled at her and kissed her softly on the lips. "Don't worry about it."

Finally the rest reached them. "Welcome back mate!" Ron said, slapping him on the shoulder. He was grinning from ear to ear and seemed to be glowing with a strange kind of pride.

Hermione gave him a hug too, maybe not as firm as Ginny, but just as loving. Harry felt a few tears as she brushed her cheek against his. When she let go of him, he noted that her eyes were very watery. "Where did you get the baby?"

Harry smiled. "Nothing ever escapes your attention does it? But I think everyone wants to know what happened." And so he spoke to the rest who were looking anxious. "Voldemort has been defeated. The war is over!"

Everyone cheered after that. People were congratulating each other and rushed forward to give Harry a hand.

…………………………………………………

They had all retired to Dumbledore's office. Snape, McGonagall, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Remus, Sirius, Jack, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry. Ginny and Hermione were both playing with the baby, who had woken up the moment they had settled within the office.

Peace finally came over Harry as he took a seat in one of the armchairs. He sighted with relieve and closed his eyes for a minute. God, what did it feel well to have a body for your own.

Harry opened his eyes again and saw Sirius looking down on him. He smiled. "I can live with you now." Sirius' own smile widened. "Yes you can if you still want to."

"Of course I want to. I've wanted to live with you ever since third year!"

Sirius ruffled Harry's hair. Harry smiled up at his godfather.

The baby laughed and all stared at the child. Harry's eyes softened as they fell on the baby. "Let's give you another chance," he whispered. He stared at the child, taking in its features. He had bluish-grey eyes and blond hair that had just started to show.

A silence followed and Dumbledore looked at Harry with his piercing blue eyes. "What happened Harry?" he asked if it was as simple as that.

"It's actually as simple as it sounds. When I realised there was nothing I could do, nothing there could be done, and I had but one task to fulfil. And then it hit me. The only way to get rid of Voldemort was to get rid of myself. I was the only thing left that was keeping him alive. He took my blood, my life-force.

I asked professor Snape to make a Fear Fever Potion, so I could stun Voldemort when he had no magic working for him. We draped the cords with Aconitum. When you use it properly it paralyses your magic first and then your body.

I also asked for an Erasing Potion. I used this again him and me. Yes, against myself."

Everyone but Dumbledore looked at him with shock and confusion. "But that means you died," Sirius whispered.

"How could you die and still sit here?" Ron asked, confusion written al over his face.

"What you've got to understand Ron is that, when you have two other presences within your body, you can't get rid of them that easily. And they have to leave the way they came in. When Voldemort killed my parents that night, he killed me too, but kept me alive by 'giving' me part of his soul. When he killed me again last summer the Phoenix saved my life by entering my body."

Severus snorted. "How noble. Everyone is willing to share their souls with the great Harry Potter."

Harry chuckled, clearing away any pained and outraged expression from the others. "You may want to call it that, but I don't think Voldemort planned on saving me on purpose. Anyway to get rid of every extra soul residing in my body, I had to 'erase' myself.

Of course I risked turning out to be completely different then you would remember me, but I think everything turned out all right. I still have the gift of wandless magic though."

Dumbledore nodded in approval and the other seemed to be satisfied with the answer he gave them. But Hermione still looked troubled. "But I still don't get where the baby came from. I mean, if Voldemort died what's with the baby?"

Harry smiled at her. "He reincarnated. When I died I was given the chance to decide what to do with the one that I killed with me. After carefully thinking it through, I decided that he should be given another chance. If it hadn't been for his horrible childhood and his lack of support from his superiors, he would never have turned out the way he did."

"That is a very wise decision Harry," Dumbledore said gravely focusing his eye on the reincarnation of Tom Riddle. "And since you'll be staying with Sirius, I believe that the care of this child has been vested on you. I'm sure you'll be a great guardian."

Harry smiled. "I've called him Thomas William Potter."

……………………………………………

It was summer and Harry, Ron and Hermione were waiting for their O.W.L. results to arrive. Ginny was playing with Thomas. The child had grown fast since the 14th of November and now had a full grown bush of blond hair. It hadn't yet shown any signs of magic, but Sirius believed that it wouldn't show till the child was at least able to walk or talk.

Harry had fully moved into Grimmauld Place. The house had been completely cleaned and its door was always open to anyone. Sirius had accepted the fact that Harry was not his father and they had renewed their bond as Godfather and Godson.

Jack had found a job in the muggle world and was now dating a girl he had met one day when he was taking care of Thomas. He is still living in Grimmauld Place with the rest, but he is planning on buying his own house by next summer.

Remus had taken up the job of DADA teacher for the next five years. He had proposed to Tonks and they were planning on marrying in a few years time. Sirius was also in love, though he was still trying to hide it. He had taken up a job in st. Mungo's as a healer.

Harry was still trying to get used to the fact that he could live a normal live. There were still nightmares of course, but they were normal nightmares. He never woke up with pain in his scar anymore. And frankly, he liked it.

**The End.**

A/N: I'm giving that sequel a thought, but I'll be first finishing the other story. That's why it's such an open ending. And don't look at me like that. If Tom had been better taken care of when he was younger, he would have been an excellent student and would have made many friends, maybe even found a girlfriend. Anyway, think about this for a second, when someone reincarnates he or she releases their soul into the universe. Some who make a sacrifice gets a chance, others who are taken with the one that makes the sacrifice are chosen for. If you still have questions I am willing to collect them all and answer them in an update. But for now, nothing is true and everything is permitted. Happy readings and writings.


End file.
